Bleeding Red and Gold
by RAfan2421
Summary: AU Post-War. A Marriage Contract was supposed to be a good thing right? A Union of Two Souls. A show of trust between two families. So why did Daphne Greengrass feel like it's a curse instead? Why was she looking for love elsewhere? Rating changed to M. No explicit content whatsoever. Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Bleeding Red and Gold**

Hello, RAfan2421 here. After thoroughly enjoying the Harry Potter series, as well as many of the stories written by brilliant authors on Fanfiction, I've decided to try my hand at writing Harry Potter Fanfics. I dearly hope this idea will continue, because my past attempts at writing have failed miserably…

All I ask is please review to tell me what you think. Flame all you want…it'll just get deleted. Constructive criticism, however, is welcome! I always want to improve the quality of my writing.

About my other story The Third Temujai Invasion, I'm sorry guys, the story was just not coming along. I've been trying to write another chapter, but I have no idea how to continue some of the character's POV. So, I'm sorry, but that update is going to take a REALLY long time, if I have any time left after betaing for a couple of AMAZING authors as well as writing this story.

This is Rated T for now, but rating may change depending on how the story progresses.

This is a Harry/Daphne/Ron triangle story, which I don't think anyone has written yet. Or maybe someone has, I just haven't seen it yet.

Warning: Some Weasely, mainly Ron, Bashing, but at first its only by Slytherins. I do not like or dislike the character of Ronald Weasely. I only do this because there is no other way to write this story.

This is also a **MARRIAGE CONTRACT** story, just not the usual Harry contracted to Daphne, and they fall in love, defeat Voldemort, and live happily ever after story. Instead, it's something different. Read more to find out.

Information you need to know:

Professor McGonagall is the new Headmistress.

This is set after the war with Voldemort.

Well, considering I'm also betaing other stories, I suppose I don't need one myself, but ideas are always welcome.

Enough of my rambling, enjoy Chapter 1.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Dear Mr. Potter,

The Staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been tasked by the Ministry of Magic to offer a repeat year for all students year 1 through 7 because of the improper curriculum used in the last year before the end of the War. The original first year students will remain in their house and new students will be sorted and become first years as well. It is required for all students to repeat the year if they wish to pass and move on to a higher year, and take any tests such as the Ordinary Wizarding Level Tests or the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Enclosed is a list of supplies and a train ticket for the train that will depart at exactly 11:00 A.M. from platform nine and three-quarters should you wish to repeat Year 7. We wish you the best.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

Harry Potter was, to the casual observer, a normal Muggle striding down Charing Cross Road, a normal British citizen. Tall, fit, with his customary unruly hair and bright emerald eyes, he walked with his friends around him, namely a red-haired, gangly young man, Ron Weasely, and a bushy-haired witch, Hermione Granger, who was lecturing Harry about not being shy, and actually talking to some of the reporters since they were bound to hound him until he gave at least one person some information about the end of the War.

The three entered the Leaky Cauldron, and Hermione waved her wand, dispelling the glamour of regular Muggle cothes. They entered Diagon Alley, and proceeded to Gringotts immediately to retrieve gold. Ron, who had earned a large sum of money from the Ministry for his role in the War, had enough money for brand-new school supplies for the first time in his life, as well as extra for his younger sister. Ginny had not asked Harry out after the end of the war, much to the surprise of many, and the delight of quite a few witches. Instead, she had focused on her Quidditch skills, and prepared for becoming a professional Quidditch player after she left Hogwarts. Harry wasn't hurt, he knew that the crush he'd had on Ginny during sixth year was over now, and all he felt was a protectiveness for her, like an older brother. As they neared Gringotts, a girl strode out, quickly followed by another who seemed to be her friend. Harry's eyes met the girl's for a split second, emerald green on sapphire blue, and Harry felt a jolt. He couldn't stop staring. He saw the beginning of a smirk on the girl's face, as she turned away, walking fast to catch up to her friend who had already gotten a couple of steps ahead. Both Harry and Ron were dazed, the girl was easily the most beautiful girl they had ever seen. She had perfect features, including sapphire blue eyes that captivated all that stared into them, cherry-red lips, long, lush blonde hair falling past her shoulders, and a curvy hourglass figure. Both Harry and Ron agreed silently that she was the image of perfection.

Hermione snorted and said, "Boys."  
Harry and Ron simultaneously asked, "Who's that?"

"Honestly, you've been in the same classroom with her for the past six years and you haven't, not even once, decided to figure out what her name was?"

Harry groaned. "Save the 'learning' talk and just tell me."

Hermione sighed, "That's Daphne Greengrass. She's been in our Potions class since First Year."

Harry was shocked, as well as Ron, with his fish imitation.

"Bloody Hell, when did she become so fanciable?" Ron asked incredulously.

Hermione lightly whacked him over the head.

"She changed over the summer. I think it's because Voldemort's gone now and people have more freedom."

Harry just shook his head and continued on into Gringotts, the goblins passed their Secrecy Sensors over him, and when he passed he entered Gringotts, the other two following closely.

After retrieving their gold with a little hassle, which included a rather lengthy explanation about their break-in into Gringotts during the war with Voldemort. Thankfully, the goblins did not demand much in payment, only the sword of Gryffindor, which was already returned, and two thousand Galleons for the dragon. Damages done to Gringotts had already been covered by the Ministry as compensation, so Harry did not need to pay repairs for the damage that the dragon had caused while flying out of Gringotts.

They exited Gringotts, and continued through Diagon Alley, buying the materials required for the coming school year. After shopping was complete, and some Galleons lighter, they Disapparated to the Burrow, where they were to spend the few remaining days of summer.

**oOo**

"Daphne! Come down to the study, we have something important to tell you."

With a sigh and a "Sorry," to her friend, Tracey Davis, who was sitting on the couch while they had been discussing about Tracey's boyfriend, Theodore Nott, who was now in Azkaban for collaborating with the Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts, as it was now called by the wizarding community. Tracey, although she did not support the pure-blood fanaticism of Voldemort, still loved her boyfriend. She knew it would be a long five years before Nott's release from Azkaban.

Daphne headed down to the study, lost in her thoughts. She was thinking about the coming school year. She had hoped that her parents would not make her go, but her parents had insisted that she complete her N.E.W.T's. As she entered the study, she noticed both her parents standing near the window, her father with a piece of paper in his hands.

"What is it?" Daphne said, getting straight to the point.

"Daphne, this is a marriage contract." Her mother started.

Daphne's face paled instantly. "You didn't…"

Her mother sighed. "You are in a marriage contract. This was originally not our idea. Apparently, a few days ago, your father found a contract in our vault. It had been signed by your great-grandfather, who had negotiated this deal. Apparently, it stated that a marriage must be made between the families of Greengrass and…"

Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Who did you contract me out to? And why didn't somebody before me already marry and fulfill the contract?"

Daphne's mother, Lyla, continued, "You are contracted to Ronald Weasely."

Daphne choked when she heard this, and spluttered, "WEASEL? Why? What the hell Mom, Dad? Why?"

Cyrus Greengrass knew his daughter would take it badly, and rightly so. Ronald Weasely, in his opinion, was an absolute pig, a blood traitor, Gryffindor, and as bad at magic as a Squib. He didn't wish to give his daughter to that prat. However, the contract had stated, that it had to be fulfilled within two hundred years, or the contract would become void, and the items negotiated in the deal would then have to be returned to their original owners. However, the items had already been used by the great-grandfather, and Daphne was the last hope to fulfill the marriage, since time would run out in two years. Astoria would be too young to marry anybody.

While Lyla explained everything, Cyrus was racking his brains on how to get his daughter to at least tolerate the Weasely, since the marriage was inevitable, unless one of them died. However, the contract had ensured that neither side could kill the other in an attempt to get out of the marriage. This made it impossible for Cyrus to dissolve the marriage.

Daphne was stunned. She had just learned that she was obligated to marry Weasely, the biggest idiot at Hogwarts. She wordlessly turned and ran out of her parent's study, up the stairs, and threw herself onto the bed. Tracey took one look at Daphne, and realized that something was wrong. She walked over quickly and sat next to Daphne's form.

"Daphne, what's wrong?"

"My stupid parents contracted me to /the WEASEL!" Daphne sobbed.

"No way, you've got to be kidding, nobody would contract their daughter to Ronald Weasely!"

"I thought it was going to be the stupid ferret! Then, my mom's like 'Ronald Weasely'. Why can't my life go the way I want it to for once?!"

Tracey had nothing to say. It was known throughout Hogwarts that Ron Weasely was an ignorant prat who used the know-it-all Granger to barely scrape a passing grade in his classes. After their falling-outs, everybody could see Ron suffer the displeasure of his teachers because of his failed schoolwork. The fact that Daphne Greengrass, one of the hottest girls in the school, was contracted to that idiot had only one single benefit: the jealousy of all the boys in the school. Tracey expected quite a few hexes aimed at the redhead this year, but she couldn't help but feel for her best friend.

All Tracey could do was offer comfort to her friend. The shock was wearing off, replaced by anger and a determination to break the contract.

**oOo**

A note about **Marriage Contracts**: I have no idea who came up with the idea of these contracts, or if J.K. Rowling told us all about it, but I'm fairly sure that if you break one something bad will happen. Apparently, sometimes you can lose your magic. However I do have one question, can an unfulfilled, expired marriage contract kill you? Please send me a PM with an answer, or review and tell me.

Next chapter will be the Weasely side of the marriage contract, as well as Harry and Hermione's reactions. Should be up in a week or two. Hopefully.

If anybody points something out that should be corrected, it will be corrected along with the next update.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 2**

I'm back! Thanks to all the people who answered and reviewed. I'll answer anonymous reviews here, but since there was two anonymous reviews who both named themselves Guest, and since I have no idea if they are the same person or not, I'll just call you Guest 1 and Guest 2, in order of your reviews.

Guest 1: I can't reveal anything…since I have no idea where this story is going myself. However, I do know that Ron tends to get a bashing by a lot of the authors on fanfiction, especially the ones who write Daphne stories. However, as I stated before, I don't hate Ron, so I really don't know. It depends on how the characters develop as the story continues.

Guest 2: Well, from what I do know of Ron's character, he is fairly lazy. The reason I picked Daphne for this story is because her character is so vague, since J.K. Rowling barely touched upon her character, so I can kind of create her personality myself. The way I visualize Daphne does not make her very similar to Ron. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that she won't like him. Opposites do attract. :)

A note about the **Marriage Contract: **There was no **clause** in the contract that would cause them to die, so I suppose if the contract was unfulfilled, they wouldn't die. However, they will **lose their magic.** Yes, very cliché, but I didn't want death as punishment since I'm fairly sure the Weasleys would not have accepted that. Unless you guys have a better idea about a punishment that does NOT include: **Torture, Insanity, or any other debilitating consequences**, it's going to stay that way. Sorry.

I should apologize, I live in the States. If anything weird comes up in my English that is not something a British student would say, please forgive. I've never really had time to learn Briticisms.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

** ALL THOSE WHO DIED IN CANON WILL STAY DEAD, INCLUDING FRED, SIRIUS, LUPIN, TONKS, ETC.**

Well, seems like I always type too much at the beginning. Enjoy Chapter 2.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Ronald Weasley was sitting in his bedroom with his two best friends, dreaming about the girl he had seen in Diagon Alley today. He couldn't believe that was Daphne Greengrass. She never looked like that before. Sure, she looked pretty throughout all their years at Hogwarts, but she had never seen her wear less clothing than her usual Slytherin outfit, which covered up…well everything really well. Today, she had been wearing a summer dress, which had a low V-neck and ended just above her knees. Ron had got to see that stunning figure, and couldn't stop drooling over her now. He was brought out of his daydreams by Hermione waving her arms in front of his face.

"Earth to Ronald!" Hermione said.

"Whaa-?"

"Ron! This is your N.E.W.T. year! Just because you played a major role in defeating the Dark Lord doesn't mean your magical skills are amazing, and it doesn't mean you can SLACK OFF!" Hermione shouted, obviously ready to deliver another tirade about the importance of school and studying.

Harry, reading **Flying with the Cannons** in the corner for the tenth time, groaned.

"Hermione, we don't really need your schoolwork lecture again. Didn't we get by for the past seven years?"

Hermione rounded on him, and Harry gulped. He shouldn't have said anything.

"Harry, what would you do this year if I refused to share with the two of you my notes on the classes before the test? Remember how much you two relied on me during our O.W.L. year?"

Ron smirked and said, "We'd fail, and we would blame it on you, because you're the smart one and should've known to give us your notes, since you knew we were going to fail. You can't deal with the impulse of trying to make us the second-best students in the year."

Hermione mentally screamed with frustration. It was true, she had a habit of trying to get the best out of everybody. Unfortunately, this meant letting the boys copy off of her. Harry wasn't too bad, he managed to do his own work every now and then. She only let him copy when he had had a particularly bad week with Snape, which meant that he would have landed himself in multiple detentions. However, the problem was Ron. Ron was lazier than Harry when it came to schoolwork. While he had no problem working with Harry to get his work done, Harry was oftentimes busy, while Ron was free, but Ron refused to work until the last minute, often resulting in midnight homework sessions where Hermione would give in and allow him to copy the last two paragraphs of whatever essay he would be writing.

"Arghh, you complete prat, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione stormed out of the room.

Just then, they heard Mrs. Weasley's call.

"Ronald, come downstairs, we have some news about your future that we need to discuss with you. Harry, dear, come down, it's time for dinner."

Ron and Harry looked at each other. They were confused. Ron had no certain future. They both knew it. Nothing was certain until N.E.W.T. results came out. Ron shrugged and got up, heading downstairs.

**oOo**

When Ron entered the kitchen, with Harry following close behind, he found his Mum setting up the table for ten, and with a pang of grief, he realized that Fred's customary seat had been taken away. He still missed his brother, and also George, as George was never the same, preferring to stay long hours pouring his heart into the joke shop, as if trying to do the work of his brother at the same time, trying to fill the void that Fred had left behind. He rarely came home before six anymore, and was usually gone before anybody woke up. Also, he didn't crack as many jokes, and he didn't put his heart into his pranks anymore, which really worried everybody.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Mum?"

"Hold on dear." Mrs. Weasley said, as she waved her wand, causing a jug of butterbeer, the butter, and a loaf of bread to fly to the table. A knife followed quickly, which began to slice the bread and spread butter upon the slices.

"Come with me. Harry dear, could you please make sure nothing burns while I'm away. If it does, I trust you can fix it."

"No problem, Mrs. Weasley." Admittedly he was curious about what "future" that Ron would have, but he did understand that it was probably private.

Ron followed his mother out of the kitchen and into the living room. There, his father sat on the couch, and his mother joined him. Ron preferred to stand, seeing the couch already almost filled, and remembering an uncomfortable conversation where he, Harry, and Hermione sat on that very couch, squeezed together, as they listened to the Last Will and Testament of Albus Dumbledore from Rufus Scrimgeous, then Minister of Magic.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about Dad? What does it have to do with my future?" Ron asked.

"Ronald, you were entered into a marriage contract." His father said heavily.

"What? When? How come you never told me?"

"We didn't know, Ronnie dear." Mrs. Weasley said.

Ron turned a brilliant shade of orange at the nickname that his mother had used since he was young.

"What? You didn't enter me into this contract?"

"No, it was entered by your great-grandfather."

"Who Mum? Please don't tell me it's Eloise Midgeon or someone like that."

"Ronald, don't judge a girl by her looks! How many times do I have to tell you that?!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

Ron mumbled, "Sorry."

"Anyways, no it's not Eloise Midgeon."

"She's very pretty, Ronald. Just…a bit cold and dark." Mr. Weasley said.

"Who? Can you get to the point and tell me who it is?"

"Daphne Greengrass." Said Mrs. Weasley.

Ron fainted right then and there.

**oOo**

Ron woke up on the couch. Harry was standing next to him talking to Hermione, and he could see his parents whispering in the corner. Then, the full meaning of what his mother had just told him. The beautiful, no insanely _HOT_, girl he had seen in Diagon Alley was his betrothed. Harry noticed he was awake and smirked.

"Alright there, mate? Not to overwhelmed by the news?"

Ron glared at him. "You're just jealous."

Harry frowned, "Well I must admit that you do get lucky sometimes, getting a girl like her as your betrothed, and yes I am rather jealous, but I would rather get to know her first and not have my life decided by a contract."

Hermione meanwhile, looked hurt. She had thought that she and Ron had something, especially considering their relationship throughout the hunt for Horcruxes. Now, he was in stuck in a contract with another witch, and a Slytherin at that. She was also really hot, and Hermione knew that in Ron's book, looks counted for a lot. Hermione would never be able to compare to the beauty of Daphne Greengrass.

Just then, Ron's parents came over, and Harry and Hermione automatically stepped back, letting Ron's parents talk to him. Then, Percy came and dragged her to the library where he had a couple of questions about his slightly less boring work about the money exchange between Galleons and British pounds. Hermione was the only one he could ask since Harry had never really had any Muggle money before, his aunt and uncle having done their utmost to deny Harry anything other than what was needed to keep him alive. The work was slightly more interesting than the regulations on the thickness of cauldron bottoms, but it still put Hermione to sleep sometimes, which was hard considering that she held the record of longest time awake in Professor Binns' class at Hogwarts. That stopped the conversation that Hermione wanted to have with Ron about their relationship. She was fairly sure what the conclusion would be anyways.

**oOo**

Ron couldn't believe his luck. The hottest girl he had ever seen in his life would be his wife. It was still unbelievable. After his parents had told him about the clauses of the marriage, mostly boring things that his great-grandfather had felt was necessary to include in the contract so that the marriage couldn't be easily voided. Why would he want to void the contract? He would be an idiot to do that.

Now Harry sat down next to him after he returned from Fred's shop, where he had needed to restock his stock of decoy detonators, since he had used them all during the war against Voldemort.

"Still feeling a little faint? You're looking pale. Pale and freckled… isn't that the symptoms of cancer?"

"Shut up Harry, you're just jealous."

"No I'm not, I'm honestly concerned about your health."

Ron raised his wand threateningly. "You do know I'm about to hex you."

"With your magical ability? I'd be more worried about the wall."

And that is the reason why Ronald Weasley spent the rest of the day without his wand, for "accidentally" hitting Harry Potter with a "Furnunculus" jinx.

**oOo**

I'm sorry about the OOCness sometimes. I promise there will be a Harry POV next chapter.

Again, any suggestions you want to make, or constructive criticism, is always welcome.

Review!


	3. Chapter 3

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 3

Hey everybody, I'm back with another chapter. I've noticed from the few reviews that I've received *cough* *cough* non-reviewers *cough* *cough* that public opinion seems to be split on whether or not it should be Harry or Ron that ends up with Daphne. All I can say is that A) there WILL be a happy ending, and B) Why does everybody just assume that Daphne will end up with one of those two, why can't it be someone like a random guy from another house?

Also, my response to the anonymous reviewers (please stop naming yourself guest, I hate differentiating between two people who review with the same anonymous name):

Guest: While I do appreciate the fact that Ron is not a completely lazy guy who only relies on Hermione during the seven books, I said that there would be some OOCness. Also, Hermione does do some of Ron's work, as she does let him copy her homework whenever he procrastinates and fails to do it at the last minute.

Guest 2: Like I said, who knows whether or not Ron will eventually be Daphne's husband or not. I'm not saying anything about what will happen. I do agree that Ron is somewhat superficial, which is why I added the Eloise Midgeon scene last chapter.

I have a **question** for you guys. Do you guys consider Harry half-blood or pureblood? I know that J.K. Rowling does, but I was wondering…since his mom was a "witch" in the fact that she could do magic, doesn't that make her a witch? If that is true, then isn't Harry pureblood? Besides, how would the founding fathers have gotten magic? It doesn't just infuse itself to the human body or anything. Please answer in a PM or review! Thanks!

Important Information:

They WILL be going to Hogwarts very soon, I'm just debating on whether or not Ron and Daphne should meet before school. Obviously such a meeting would be very tense, but I don't know if they need to sign something to seal the contract or something like that.

Harry bought another firebolt after he lost his first one while flying away from Privet Drive. At least, I think he lost it there. If he didn't, then PM me and tell me what page it's on, and I'll look it up.

There are no **Ancient and Noble Houses** or other stuff like that which I've seen in so many other stories.

Enough of my rambling, Chapter 3 is here!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

**(August 29, The Burrow)**

Harry was flying on his Firebolt in the Weasley's orchard. There was nobody here with him, Ron having been dragged to his bedroom by Hermione to finish the work that the teachers had assigned them to do over break. Harry himself had completed the work in about a week after it had arrived, since he had a lot of time over summer, and not a lot to do, with the Burrow being noticeably less cheery and happy then it was before the war. He was thinking about his best friend's new betrothed. He wasn't sure why the Weasleys would create a marriage contract with the Greengrasses, since they were always in rival houses. Also, he knew that people like Mr. Weasley would never associate himself with anybody who was considered to have the old pureblood bigotry inside them. Thus, the fact that he was meeting Cyrus Greengrass, head of the Greengrass family, meant that the contract was indeed intended to be fulfilled. Harry knew that he would have to spend some time this year getting to know Daphne and her friend whom they had saw in Diagon Alley. After all, he would have to get along with her, since she would be his soon-to-be adopted sister-in-law, as the Weasley's had sort of adopted him as another son. He found himself looking forward to the meeting, despite the fact that they were Slytherins, and although they hadn't done it openly, they had probably somewhat supported Voldemort during his reign, since Daphne did seem to have the same pureblood bigotry of most Slytherins. At least, that was the face she presented to the world on a daily basis.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by an apple whizzing by his nose. Completely on instinct, he reached out and snatched the apple, then froze. Uh-oh. He hadn't realized it, but he had flown level to the tall trees that surrounded the grove. Since he had shot upwards to snatch that apple, he had risen slightly above the tree line. He thanked Merlin that no Muggles were around, and quickly shot back towards the ground. Halfway there he had to swerve, since Ron had just thrown another apple at him.

"What the hell, mate? You almost got me caught by Muggles!"

"I was trying to distract you. I saw you getting too close to the tree line, and I thought the apple might distract you enough so that you would realize that you were about to fly up over the trees. I didn't know that you would actually catch the apple! I thought I threw it hard enough."

"Yeah, you did, but what was the second one for?"

"Well," Ron said sheepishly, "I was trying to hit you with the first apple, and wanted to redeem myself in aiming with my wand for George, who's currently hiding behind that tree over there."

"..."

"…"

Suddenly they heard a crash and a scream. The tree that Ron had been pointing to shook violently, and George and Ginny tumbled out of the trees, looking as if they had just collided with each other.

"Oh my god, George! What are you doing away from the shop?" Ginny asked.

"What? I'm not allowed some time off to come and play Quidditch?"

"You are, but give us a little warning before you start hiding by the edges of the Quidditch Pitch!" Ginny exclaimed, still looking a bit disheveled from the collision.

"Okay, Okay. Anything for you, baby sister!"

"Don't call me that! I'm not a baby anymore."

George decided to stop teasing Ginny and turned on Ron instead.

"Awww, poor ickle Ronniekins, can't even aim an apple properly at a guy who's flying on a broom that's going slower than a Cleensweep Five, even though it has the capacity to outstrip any broom ever produced."

Ron turned red, and threw an apple at George, which George deflected with a lazy flick of his wand so that it nailed Harry in the stomach.

"Oooof!" Harry groaned, his lungs suddenly deprived of air.

"That Ronniekins, is how you aim."

This jibe meant that George did not see the Stinging Hex that Harry sent his way, which impacted on his left buttock, causing the redhead to leap up with a cry, and jump around the grove for a few minutes until Harry muttered the counter-curse, satisfied with his revenge.

George muttered something about his left buttock being as worse as Fred's after the twins had tried to get Ron into an Unbreakable Vow and their dad had caught them, which prompted the rest of them to laugh. Afterwards, they split into two teams of two, with Harry pairing with George and Ginny pairing up with Ron. Since Ginny was now almost as good as Harry with her training, and Ron was decent, they were fairly even teams. After tossing apples for a good three hours, as well as several turns each on Harry's Firebolt, they all traipsed back to the Burrow, where they were greeted by an enthusiastic Mrs. Weasley, who was delighted to see George home early, and a sumptuous five-course dinner. Hermione had spent the afternoon finishing up most of the textbooks for the school year, which prompted Ron to roll his eyes. Harry, while understanding the importance of schoolwork more than Ron, still felt that Hermione always took schoolwork far more seriously than it should be.

Mrs. Weasley announced at dinner that they would make another trip to Diagon Alley the next day, to buy up any last items, as well as visit George in his shop. Weasley Wizard Wheezes was still doing a booming business, although it was harder for George to keep up now that his partner was gone. Still, he had hired some assistants who were helping him a great deal in keeping track of orders, products, and imports. Then, the youngest of them would be sent off to Hogwarts for one or two more years of wizarding education.

Mr. Weasley pulled Harry, Ron, and Hermione aside after dinner.

"There's another reason we're taking you to Diagon Alley tomorrow." He said grimly.

"What is it?" asked Hermione.

"We're meeting the Greengrasses tomorrow at noon at Florean Fortescue's.

After the war, Florean's son had reopened his father's ice cream parlour. Just like his father, he absolutely doted on Harry, giving him free sundaes whenever he wanted, although Harry always slipped a couple Galleons onto the counter right before he left. Harry suspected that the reason that they were meeting there was because Florean's son was firmly on Harry's side, so that if anything bad happened, there would be witnesses.

"Why right before school, Dad? We would've met her at school anyways."

"Well, we, and you in particular, need to meet with her family if you are going to marry their oldest come your twentieth birthday."

Harry's thoughts drifted away as Ron and Mr. Weasley talked about the plans of the contract. While he really did envy his friend, he hoped that Daphne would make Ron happy, since he had suffered so much during the war, losing his brother, as well as many close friends. Ron's father ended the conversation at the staircase, leaving Harry and Ron to climb upstairs slowly, each lost in their own thoughts, while Hermione went off to her own bedroom, muttering something about the Arithmancy textbook that she apparently had a hundred pages left to read. As Harry, turned off the light, he wondered what the Greengrasses would be like. He knew that they had ties with the other pureblood Slytherins who had joined Voldemort, but he wasn't sure whether or not they were completely dark, or neutral. They were "neutral" during the war, but who knew what shady deals were being made in the dark. Harry would have to keep his guard up, if only to block the famed Ice Princess Stinging Hex aimed between his legs should be so much as brush Daphne Greengrass's shoulder.

**oOo**

So, I'm sorry I didn't update for a couple of days, dunno if any of you noticed.

As always, any constructive criticism, mistakes, or anything that can be improved will always be appreciated in the form of a review. Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 4

Hey guys, another chapter is coming your way. Sorry about the slow updating…and the short chapters…and my lack of skill as an author, but still, for those reading, you guys are awesome. Your reviews really help my writing.

I've noticed in the reviews that a lot of you are discontent with the fact that I've created Ron to be a more superficial and "cares about looks in a relationship" kind of guy in this story. I will say this again, although I'm fairly sure that I've addressed this before. There will be some **OOCness** in this story. That's the only way that this story would continue. If there were no **OOCness**, then Harry, Ron, and Hermione would have never met Daphne, because the Weasleys would have never had any connections with the Greengrasses, and Ron would probably turn down the contract and give it to George or something, since the twins were well-liked by most people. Also, there has been discontent on the fact that Harry was jealous of Ron because of the contract. It's completely natural! His best friend just got betrothed to a really hot girl! Would you not be jealous if that happened to your best friend?

Really sorry about the cliché Ice Princess, but I really don't think that any other personality would work for this story.

**IMPORTANT INFORMATION:**

Thanks for explaining why Harry is a half-blood. However, for the sake of this story Harry will be a **pureblood. **Don't like, don't read.

Ron and Hermione are **NOT** in a **relationship**, they are just friends. Sure, they shared some moments, but Ron never worked up the courage to ask her out. **YES I KNOW THIS IS OOC, BUT IT'S FOR THE SAKE OF THE STORY.**

Alright, like usual, I've created a really long Author's Note. You don't have to read it…it's just advised if you have any questions about the chapter.

If you still have questions, PM or leave a review! :D On to the story now.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

At ten o'clock exactly, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing by the fireplace of the Burrow. Harry groaned as he took a handful of Floo Powder. He looked at the fireplace apprehensively, knowing that he would regret it. Tossing the powder into the flames, he stepped in as he enunciated as clearly as he could,

"Diagon Alley."

After the usual, dizzy whirling through fireplaces, he came to a stop in the Leaky Cauldron, where he stepped out and waited for the others to arrive. Soon after, Ginny came whizzing through, followed by Ron, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Alright, you've got about two hours for shopping before you've got to meet up with us at Florean's, got that?" Mr. Weasley asked.

With a chorus of "Yeses", they set off down the street. They had barely gone ten steps when they were stopped by Mrs. Weasley.

"You be careful now, and don't get into any trouble."

Ron groaned. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had already been defeated, so he didn't really need his mother mother-henning him, but he resigned himself to his Mum fussing over him, as well as Harry, Ginny, and Hermione.

When they finally set off, they headed towards Eeylops Owl Emporium, as both Harry and Ron were low on owl treats, as well as other supplies which were needed to keep Hedwig and Pigwidgeon happy.

After spending nearly two hours stocking up on supplies for the upcoming school year, they headed to Florean's. On the way, it was obvious Ron was getting nervous, and he wasn't helped by his friends and his sister, who teased him endlessly.

"What if I accidentally brush up against her? I do want to leave children behind in this world, but maybe she doesn't? It'll be a perfect time to put an end to that."

Harry and Hermione were smirking, while Ginny said, "Well, Ronald, we're certainly hopeful that you don't leave any children behind, because they would be a curse to society. We'll secretly be hoping that you brush up against her, hope you don't mind."

Ron glared at Ginny, then turned his gaze on Harry and Hermione. Hermione tried to cover up the smirk and look innocent, but Harry's merely became more pronounced.

"Still so excited about the marriage, huh?" Harry smirked.

"All of you can die slowly." Ron said, as he turned and strode towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

The three followed him, laughing all the way. However, as they neared the shop, they put on neutral expressions as they prepared to meet the Greengrasses. Harry gripped his wand tightly under his robes, as he also put up his mediocre Occlumency shields. He had never let down his guard, even though Voldemort had been definitively defeated. As they entered the shop, they looked around, and saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sitting at one of the benches along with four people. Mr. Weasley quickly beckoned them over to the table, and they walked over.

As they got closer, Harry took a better look at the girl who would one day become Ron's wife; the girl who had become legendary in their school for her powerful stinging hex; the girl who was so cold and indifferent to the world that people avoided her altogether, except her friend Tracey Davis; the girl who had earned her nickname, the Ice Princess, for her altogether avoidance and hexing of boys. Today, she looked just as beautiful as the day when they had ran into her near Gringotts. As they sat down, Cyrus Greengrass, a tall, intimidating man began to discuss the contract. Ron listened carefully, making sure that he wouldn't do something stupid and violate the contract, the first time that he showed much interest in any speech by an adult. Ginny and Hermione had excused themselves a couple of minutes after the conversation started to wander off to another shop to have a look around. Harry, on the other hand, decided to stay, and study Daphne Greengrass, as well as her younger sister Astoria. Daphne seemed bored and indifferent as usual, her cold mask in place. Astoria was also bored. Harry could see it in the way she fidgeted and looked at her older sister. Daphne sat perfectly still, staring off into the distance, acting as if she didn't even know anybody who sat at the table.

After the clauses and details of the contract were explained, the adults finally stopped discussing. Daphne stood up to leave, her expression of distaste clear on her face, when suddenly Ron stumbled and went crashing into her. Harry was immediately worried, as his friend and the elder Greengrass sister landed on the floor. Daphne jumped up immediately, looking murderous. She drew her wand, obviously about to cast her famed Stinging Hex, when Harry stepped forward.

"Protego!" he cried.

Daphne spun around and pointed his wand at him. By this time, Daphne's parents had intervened.

"Daphne! We talked about this." Her father said warningly.

Daphne appraised Harry coldly, before turning around and striding out of the parlour.

Ron rolled over and was got to his feet, red in the face and shaking slightly at the near miss he had just had.

The Greengrasses bade farewell quickly, and followed their daughter out of the shop, leaving the Weasleys and Hermione stunned and shocked, as Harry wondered.

Harry wondered why the eyes of Daphne Greengrass looked so dead to him when she had appraised him before leaving. What could have possibly affected a girl this young for the eyes to look like that?

**oOo**

Daphne ran into her friend Tracey outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies. One look, and Tracey could tell that Daphne's temper was at its boiling point. She quickly took a step back and tried to calm her friend.

"What happened? I thought you were supposed to be at the meeting with the Weasleys."

Daphne glared at her, and Tracey instinctively backpedalled.

"Whoa, don't take it out on me! I was just asking."

Daphne sighed, trying to calm her temper.

"Sorry Trace, it's just the nerve of the Weasel! It seems like Ronald Weasley is HAPPY with this contract. He was sitting there with that goofy look in his eye, staring at me, and I really wanted to hex him then and there, but I'd promised my parents I'd try to not hurt any of them."

"You didn't did you?"

"I would've, if Mr. "I Save Everyone" Potter hadn't come in with a shield charm."

"Wait, Potter was there?"

"Yeah, it seems like he was staying at the Weasleys. Pathetic really, when you'd think that he would want to stay at his own manor."

"Well, back to the meeting, what happened after that?"

"I tried to not care, but then as we were leaving, that Weasel "accidentally" tripped and fell right onto me."

Tracey grinned, but immediately covered it up when she saw her friend's glare.

"How badly did you hurt him?"

"I didn't, because Potter stopped me, and then I left before my parents could go on another tirade about not hurting my future husb-, no I can't even say it. I can't take this anymore!" Daphne screamed.

"I hate Weasley, and I really am going to go look into my family's ancestry and curse the guy who contracted me."

Tracey, who knew Daphne's moods better than anyone, even her parents, knew that it would be best for Daphne to just vent. Afterwards, her Ice Queen mask would be back, and everything would be back to normal. As they walked through the aisles, it was clear that the people were trying and failing to pretend that they weren't listening in on the girls' conversation. Tracey noticed, and nudged Daphne. After a icy glare around, she turned and stalked out of the store without buying anything, Tracey close behind. There Daphne's parents were waiting, and they did not look happy. They greeted Tracey politely, but Tracey could feel that she wasn't wanted at that very moment. She waved goodbye to Daphne, before setting out for the entrance into the back of the Leaky Cauldron, intending to Floo home. Along the way, she saw the Weasleys up ahead, with Potter, and that know-it-all Granger. Curious as to their reaction after the probable attack by Daphne, she snuck up behind them and began to listen in on their conversation.

**oOo**

Bad ending. Sorry. Didn't really have anywhere else to stop. Anyways, next chapter they're off to Hogwarts, where there are no parents to control Daphne's behavior. Wonder what will happen next? O.O

Liked it? Hated it? Review and tell me. Flame all you want, there's always the delete button. Constructive criticism? Awesome.

OK, I'll stop now.

Peace.


	5. Chapter 5

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 5

Well what can I say? Sorry guys for the long wait, it's been a while since I've forced myself to get onto a computer and write. Also, I had a bit of writer's block, since I was trying to figure out what the reactions of the Weasleys would be, as well as Harry and Hermione. Anyways, I've realized that although I can probably spell 99% of the words correctly in each chapter, I still think I need a **Beta** to help me with the plot. So, if any of you are interested, please PM. I **don't **want someone who just picks out spelling/grammar mistakes, I need someone who can give suggestions. So please, if you can do that, do send me a PM.

On to the reviews!

I feel that a lot of people think I'm "bashing" Ron, and a couple of the Weasleys. I'm NOT. Yes, Ron is OOC, and shown in a worse light than he was in canon. Does that make it bashing? I'll have to go look up that term in the Fanfiction Dictionary… Please do tell me if you guys feel that I'm "bashing" Ron. I'll try to make him less of a prat than I think he really is.

Important Information:

I LIED. THIS CHAPTER THEY ARE **NOT **GOING TO **HOGWARTS.** The story would move too fast if that happened.

I might change the summary, because it's a pretty bad summary and I want it to be more interesting, so if you see a story with this title, but a different summary, don't worry, it's this story.

I stated this before, but I guess some people didn't get it. Ron and Hermione are not in a **ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP**. They won't be in the near future either. If you are one of those people who are like, Ron should be with Hermione, that's the only way it should go, then I suggest you stop reading, because it's not going to happen anytime soon. It might not happen, ever. If you are one of those people who understood what I said last chapter, then I'm sorry, this ranting is not directed at you.

They are going to their **7****th** year at Hogwarts this year, not like the 8th year cliché stuff that other people are doing. The difference between 7th and 8th is that I've seen that 8th years get their own common room in a lot of the fics. There are still House borders right now, and all the seventh years live in their House's common rooms. They are **NOT** living together.

I might be changing the rating of this story to M, since there probably will be cursing, and possible sexual themes (nothing graphic). However, I will warn you if that ever happens. The rating will stay for now, since nothing will happen for the foreseeable future (next two chapters). However, readers be warned.

Other **Not As Relevant **Information(skip to the chapter if you wish, I know this is getting really long):

I probably should have done this in the first chapter, but I totally forgot. I wanted to list a number of stories that have inspired me to try my hand at writing a Harry/Daphne fic of my own.

**The Pureblood Princess **by **TheEndless7**

** Second Chances **by **Zaxarus (Sequel as well, which is developing nicely. I get to beta-read it, which is always great) **

** Harry Potter and the Congregation of the Asp (Sequel to Second Chances) **by **Zaxarus**

** Duality **by **Anda Faith (Another one that I get to beta read! :D**

Anything written by the author James Spookie, formerly known as MunkeyManiac.

Alright, sorry about that rather long Author's Note, but then you guys do get used to it after it occurs every chapter. I hope. Enjoy Chapter 5.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Ronald Weasley was scared. He was trying to hide it, but he was shocked at the reaction of his bride-to-be. Who knew that even touching her would elicit such a reaction? Ron was wondering how on Earth were they going to consummate their eventual marriage. He wasn't so sure he wanted to get married to Daphne now. Judging by the reaction of their first meeting, he didn't want to be within a ten-mile radius of that cold-hearted witch [**A/N I would've put something different there, but again…Rated T for now. I suppose cursing is okay in some forms of that rating, but I still feel that I'll keep that away from the story until I change the rating.] **As the group trudged back to the Leaky Cauldron after that rather tense and scary meeting, Ronald was too lost in his own thoughts to participate in the heated debate that was occurring between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Molly, they're a family of Dark Wizards. I would've chosen George to be her husband, since George can make the darker families much more bearable."

"Arthur, he just lost…Fred." Mrs. Weasley gulped. Every time she thought about Fred, or if his name came up in a conversation, it was always a painful reminder of what she had lost. Mrs. Weasley couldn't even begin to think about what George must have went through in the weeks after the death of Fred and the end of the War.

"Yes, I know, that's why Ron is now forced into a marriage with that horrible girl. We're going to have to put many safeguards on Ron if we want him to get through this marriage unscathed."

Mrs. Weasley wiped tears from her cheeks as she said, "Why does our life have to be so hard?"

Mr. Weasley put an arm around her shoulders. "I don't know, dear, but we'll stick it out. We've done so before and we'll do it again."

The rest of the walk occurred in silence.

**oOo**

Tracey was very angry. It seemed as if the Weasleys had tried their best to get out of the marriage, and when that failed, they tried to give the best candidate that would "cure" the Greengrasses of their problems, mainly their dark name, which was totally absurd, and their aggressive attitude. Tracey wouldn't have minded George Weasley in the slightest, as he was intelligent in some ways, as well as funny and entertaining to have around. The Weasel, as that was what a lot of Slytherins called the youngest Weasley son, was an entirely different matter. Obnoxious, loud, rude, and hungry almost all the time, everybody hated the Weasel. It wasn't the type of prejudiced hate that Potter usually received from them before Voldemort's downfall, as that was from listening to Malfoy spout untrue, biased statements all day long. Slytherins really hated Weasley. She expected a lot of sympathy for her friend this year, as well as a lot of hexes aimed at the Weasel discreetly. Trace hoped that the Weasel would be in the Hospital Wing more than the Great Hall, which would be an incredible accomplishment.

As Tracey flooed to her own home, she wondered what Daphne was doing now. She was probably on the receiving end of a lecture from her parents about being civil.

Tracey sighed. She really wished that her friend wasn't in this stupid contract. Before the contract, Daphne had always been a bit difficult to deal with at times, as her Ice Queen persona had been built up so perfectly that nobody, not even the Saint Potter, had ever been able to crack them. Although Potter may not have tried the time he stumbled over Daphne during Fifth Year, which he spent half the day in the Hospital Wing easing the pain in his groin region, nobody ever tried to approach Daphne for any type of romantic conversation, let alone talk about dates and such. Sure, Daphne could be fun at times, when the mask dropped, which only happened when the two of them were alone. Tracey had never, ever seen her without that mask on in public. Now, she knew it would be even more difficult to get by this year, as Daphne would probably snap at anyone who tried to console her about the stupid contract, which would increase the tension, and bring unwanted attention to the two of them. It would be a difficult year, Tracey reflected, as she packed her school books into her almost packed trunk. As she took a shower, brushed her teeth, and climbed into her bed, she felt something that she had never felt before a school year started. Nervousness. She was nervous about many things every year. Did she forget any supplies? Did she forget the spells that she learned the year before? However, this year, it was more focused on the reactions of the rest of the school to Slytherins. Ever since the war, Slytherins had mostly been lying low, unless you counted the select few that had supported the Light during the War. Daphne's coldness probably wouldn't helped people's opinions either. Tracey made a note to speak to Daphne about letting up a bit on the persona, since the threat of another marriage contract was impossible, and she would never even have a chance at happiness if she didn't at least get to know the Weasel and Potter and Granger.

Tracey was curious about Potter. She had seen him around the school of course, but had never talked to him. That time when he stumbled into Daphne, she hadn't been there. She'd felt slightly guilty later, knowing that she probably could've stopped her friend from hexing the Boy-Who-Lived. Daphne got two weeks worth of detention as well as twenty points from Slytherin. Not that she really cared about house points, and since the detention was with Snape, it wasn't really that bad, but Tracey really wanted to get to know the Boy-Who-Lived, since he was currently the most famous wizard in the wizarding community. She was curious to know who was the person behind all the stories, all the hype, and all the images that the media projected him to be. Tracey rolled over and drifted off to sleep, trying to dissipate her thoughts.

**oOo**

Harry was the only one who noticed the blonde Slytherin who was walking slightly behind them, obviously listening in to the conversation. At first he mistook her for Daphne, because she was every bit as beautiful as her friend, but recognized her as the friend of Daphne who had also been there that day at Gringotts. He wondered what she was doing that night as he flew in the orchard one last time before he would go inside and have dinner with the rest of the Weasley Clan and Hermione.

Harry took his Firebolt up to his room, before washing his hands and went downstairs. At the second floor, he was suddenly grabbed by someone and pulled into a room. When he took a closer look he realized it was Ginny. He gulped internally. He knew that Ginny would probably ask him out again after the war, but he wasn't sure how he would respond. Sure, he'd had a crush on her during Sixth Year, but ever since then he had been through so much, and no longer liked her in the same way. She was only a sister to him, nothing more, just like Hermione.

Ginny took a deep breath.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous. This feels like Fifth Year all over again." Ginny began.

Harry merely nodded, choosing to let Ginny to finish her thoughts before he said anything.

"Harry, I still love you. We never really got back together after the war. At the lake during Dumbledore's funeral, you told me that you were giving me up because you didn't want me to get hurt. Well, the danger's over now. I may have not shown that much interest in you recently, but I want to try our relationship again. Will you go out with me again?" Ginny said all in one breath.

Harry closed his eyes and thought carefully. He knew that he didn't really love Ginny anymore, but it didn't seem right to leave her after everything they had been through.

"Ginny I-

**oOo**

I just love leaving you guys hanging :D.

About the **Beta.** I'm bad at keeping track of the plot sometimes, and will forget details, causing plot holes. If you can see them, that would be a great help. Again, PM if you're interested.


	6. Chapter 6

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 6

Hey everybody, Chapter 6 is here.

As I read the author's note again in Chapter 1, I realize that I wrote about "bashing". Sorry about the hypocriticism. Still, perhaps there will be minor bashing, but Ron will generally be a good character, with his own human flaws like everybody else. Sorry about the slight ranting about this, I tend to forget about a lot of the author's notes that I write before, other than the Information part.

On to the reviews:

I'm not sure where you guys are getting the idea that Ron is a lot worse than he is in canon. I don't think he seems much worse than he was in canon. Maybe shown in a slightly worse light, but nothing that makes him a character that you should hate.

I'm glad you guys are sticking around for this story. I'm hoping it will get better as I get better with my writing.

Important Information:

I'm still looking for a **beta**, so if you're interested, please PM. I really want someone to help me with the story. Yeah, I change my mind a lot, so ignore the author's note I wrote in either chapter 1 or 2.

They are going to Hogwarts this chapter.

My timeline of this story is hard

PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME DAPHNE IS GOING TO BE ANYONE'S BRIDE/GIRLFRIEND/ETC. UNTIL IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.

Question: I've noticed in a lot of stories that authors are incorporating something called the Veil, which is kind of like a border between life and death. I know this was mentioned in Book 5 when Sirius died, but I'm not sure that he died from falling through the veil or from the Killing Curse that Bellatrix cast. Is the Veil a killer? And if so, was this stated in the books, or something made up by fanfiction authors? Please respond in a review or PM. Thanks.

I tried to make this author's note short, but it didn't work. Sorry. Oh well, here's chapter 6.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

From Last Chapter:

_"I don't know why I'm so nervous. This feels like Fifth Year all over again." Ginny began._

_ Harry merely nodded, choosing to let Ginny to finish her thoughts before he said anything._

_ "Harry, I still love you. We never really got back together after the war. At the lake during Dumbledore's funeral, you told me that you were giving me up because you didn't want me to get hurt. Well, the danger's over now. I may have not shown that much interest in you recently, but I want to try our relationship again. Will you go out with me again?" Ginny said all in one breath._

_ Harry closed his eyes and thought carefully. He knew that he didn't really love Ginny anymore, but it didn't seem right to leave her after everything they had been through._

_ "Ginny I-_

**Now, the continuation in Chapter 6.**

"Ginny I don't know. I'm not sure about my feelings anymore, and it's not just towards you. I feel like I've changed so much from Sixth Year."

Ginny looked incredibly disappointed and hurt. Harry couldn't help but feel guilty, because he knew how big of a crush Ginny had had on him ever since he had saved her from the Chamber of Secrets way back when Harry was twelve years old. Now, seven years later, after a war, and devastating tragedies, she still had the same big crush on him, although she hid it well.

"Harry, we had something in Fifth Year. You can't just tell me that you're going to throw all of that away."

"I don't know, Ginny. I'm still messed up inside. I don't know who I like as a friend, as a love interest, as a crush, or as a sibling."

Ginny's mouth dropped opened.

"You don't like _Hermione_ do you?"

Harry looked surprised. "No, where did you get that idea?"

Ginny sighed in relief. "I don't know, you said sibling, and I know you and Hermione are really close, so I suspected."

Harry thought, 'I'm so glad she doesn't know who I have feelings for right now.'

Harry was lost in his thoughts about a certain cold, beautiful, witch he had met in Diagon Alley the day before.

Ginny looked at him weirdly.

"Harry?"

Harry shook himself out of his daydream.

"What?"

"You zoned out for a second, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Ginny." Harry said distractedly.

He made his way out of the door, trying desperately to keep the special witch out of his thoughts.

**oOo**

The day dawned chilly and rainy. Daphne shivered as she got out of her bed, and entered her bathroom. After a meticulous shower, and a careful choice of flattering, but modest clothing for the ride to Hogwarts, she went downstairs to find her mother and father, as well as Astoria, already up and eating breakfast. She joined them, as her mother made sure that the two girls had everything they would need for the upcoming school year.

At ten-thirty precisely, Daphne and her father Apparated together to the Apparition Point set inside Platform Nine-and Three Quarters for both convenience and security reasons. Then, Astoria Apparted with her mother, complaining about the fact that she still had to use Side-Along Apparition, despite the fact that she knew how to apparate. Daphne scanned the crowd, looking for Tracey, who was probably alone, now that Nott had been carted off to Azkaban for some time. Daphne personally hadn't minded, as she didn't particularly like Nott, but for her friend's sake she tried to be sympathetic. Now, amonst so many other students, her Ice Queen Persona fell into place easily, and as she strode through the crowd with her trunk levitating behind her, parents and students of all years alike automatically moved aside for her. The icy aura she exuded was enough for almost everybody to back off. Except one.

Daphne noticed Harry Potter walking towards her consulting what looked to be a piece of parchment. They almost walked right into each other, as she was so used to people automatically giving her a wide berth wherever she might be, and Harry was too engrossed with whatever he was reading.

"Watch where you're going Potter." Daphne said.

Harry looked up, saw Daphne, tried and succeeded in suppressing the emotions surging up inside of him, and said, "Hello Greengrass. Looking for your friend?"

Daphne replied, "That's none of your business."

Harry smirked. "You could at least be pleasant you know. You _are _going to be married to my best friend, so we might as well get to know each other better."

Daphne had her wand out in an instant. "Don't you dare talk to me about that stupid contract. Trust me, I _will_ find a way to get out of that contract with that stupid Weasel."

"Who you calling Weasel, you filthy snake." A rude and unpleasant voice called from behind her.

Daphne turned around slowly, and directed her icy glare straight at the speaker, Seamus Finnigan, who now looked a little pale and was wishing he hadn't said anything.

"I'm calling that pathetic excuse of a wizard the Weasel. You got a problem with that?"

Seamus gulped. "N-No."

His best friend Dean nudged him and smirked, "Get whipped by a girl."

Daphne turned around and faced Harry again, who looked curious.

"Why is it that you hate me so much?" He questioned.

Daphne stared at him for a moment, then said, "You wouldn't understand."

She strode past him, and finally found the person she was looking for.

"Tracey!" she called.

Her best friend turned around, saw her, ran over, and dragged her onto the train into an empty compartment. Once they were inside, Tracey burst into tears.

"Calm down, Tracey, what's the matter?"

"Nott's been sentenced to an extra ten years in Azkaban."

"Why?"

"Apparently he was using the Imperious Curse on young girls and doing unsavory acts with them during the war. I don't understand! I loved him! I can condone the murders and the vandalism, since he would've died had he not followed orders, but this act was of his own free will. Why would he do that? Didn't he feel anything towards me?"

Since Daphne was a novice at any type of romantic relationship, she was at a loss for words. Sure, she wanted curse Nott and throw him to the Dementors, but she had no idea how to comfort her friend. All she could do was let Tracey vent her sadness and frustration. Eventually Tracey fell asleep, exhausted as she had not slept the day before, trying to get over her heartbreak. Daphne stood up, and went outside to go look for the lunch trolley. It had passed by a couple of minutes before, but Daphne had waved her on, since Tracey was still venting, and it did not seem like a good time to buy lunch. Daphne was hungry however, so she wandered towards the front of the train, looking for the trolley. She found it close to the front of the train. As she got in line, the compartment at the very front of the train slid open. A redhead backed out, speaking with another person who was inside the compartment. The redhead of her nightmares stood in front of her. The one that she was forced to marry. As soon as Ron looked at Daphne, Daphne felt herself get angry. She forced herself to calm down, since she didn't want to blow up the train by accident. She merely nodded at him, bought some lunch, and headed back towards her compartment. When she entered, Tracey was still sleeping soundly, so Daphne began to eat, and changed into her school robes. After that, she opened a special book that she had borrowed from her parents' bookshelf without them noticing. It was titled: _Marriage Contracts: A Guide to Finding Loopholes_.

**oOo**

Shorter chapter. Sorry. If you enjoyed it, or hated it, leave a review. Remember, a review always helps me, and keeps me motivated to keep writing.


	7. Chapter 7

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 7

** Hey guys, I'm back. For all of you who read the story and/or left a review, you guys are awesome! **

** The Reviews from Anonymous Reviewers:**

** FYI there were three people named Guest. I'll respond using Guest 1,2,and 3. They are in chronological order from first to last in time. If I rant at the wrong person, then I'm sorry.**

** Guest 1: I think that Daphne, as a Slytherin, would have hated Ron for the reason that he would try to insult them, just like Slytherins did to Ron. Also, Malfoy probably spouted a lot of bad things about Ron, which would also make Daphne hate Ron, just because of the inherent dislike created by House borders. Also, Harry was a good person to most people. Sure, he could be selfish, distant, cold, etc. sometimes, but that's the human part of him. If I was Harry, I would have broken around Year four or five. That was two shocks two years in a row.**

** Guest 2: Thanks… That's exactly what I needed in a review. Slang…and a complete downer review without ANY constructive criticism. Loved it.**

** Guest 3: Thank you so much for clearing that up for me. I'm going to go with the "dieing if you fall into the Veil" because it'll make future potential executions a lot easier to explain. Sorry if that's cliché. Also, sorry about just using the last names. I felt that since it was talk between two friends, they would know which Nott it was. I'll make it clearer in the future though. I'm fairly sure condone can also mean allow though. Check the dictionary or something. Glad you liked the story!**

** That's all the reviews that showed up when I started writing this author's note.**

** Important Information:**

** I'm still looking for a Beta. If you're interested please PM. Thanks.**

** I know that in the movie it would seem as if Filch had died, but in this story he's alive. I need him for detentions, and I don't have the imagination to create a new caretaker.**

**Seems like I have to say this every chapter. PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME DAPHNE WILL END UP IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANYONE! AT LEAST UNTIL IT HAS ANY CHANCE OF OCCURING. PLEASE!**

**I'm changing the Rating to M. These people are 18 or over. There WILL be some suggestive comments. No sex… at least not graphically.**

** Alright, enough of my ranting. Enjoy Chapter 7.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

_A/N Edited on October 12, 2013 because of a major plot hole pointed out to me by SFBKludge. Thanks for pointing that out!_

**oOo**

The start of the year was like any other year before that, except that there was a noticeable lack of students from the Fifth Year and up, who all had somewhat participated in the Battle of Hogwarts. Also, the main difference that everybody noticed was that the Sorting was different this year. The returning first-years, although they came by boat, immediately proceeded to their House tables, whereas the new students were Sorted into their respective Houses. There was a noticeable increase in students now that the War was over. The feast a started after Professor McGonagall, who had now become the permanent Headmistress, made a couple of the usual announcements, including the banned items of Filch, who had miraculously survived the Battle of Hogwarts. Also, the Forbidden Forest was still banned, despite the fact that many of the students had suffered horrors far worse than the creatures that lived in the forest.

Daphne Greengrass sat at the Slytherin table with Tracey Davis. They looked down the Slytherin table. It was obvious which House had suffered the most from the war. Slytherin House's students were noticeably fewer than all the other Houses in the school. Some had been killed, others fled, and some had even been sent to Azkaban like Theodore Nott Jr. Daphne had heard that the Ministry had allowed both Nott Sr. and Jr. to have the same cell room. That was already being extremely generous.

Daphne's eyes scanned the Great Hall, and as they passed the Gryffindor Table, she couldn't suppress a shiver of loathing. The redhead she was staring out was currently grabbing two chicken legs and ripping them to shreds, and also conversing with his friends with his mouth full. She could tell that even Potter and Granger were disgusted at their friend's lack of manners, despite knowing his habits and watching him for the better part of eight years. She couldn't understand why her family had needed to propose a marriage contract with the Weasleys. They were on opposite sides when it came to Light and Dark. The two families had little to no contact before the contract. Yet, something must have made her family sign that contract. She knew of no material gain that came from the contract, and she also knew that even several generations ago, the Weasley name was not worth enough for the Greengrasses, who had a significant amount of political and monetary resources, to arrange a marriage. There was only two explanations, in Daphne's mind. One was blackmail, which was unlikely, and the other was a secret exchange. She didn't know, but she would find out soon enough.

She looked up, just as Professor Mcgonagall stood up and began to make her start-of term speech. Afterwards she asked the sixth and seventh years to stay back. Daphne wondered why her year was staying behind. Most people had their schedules from their sixth year, and since there weren't many staff changes, other than a new Muggle Studies and a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Thus, Daphne saw no reason to stay behind. She waited as her Head of House moved down the table towards the sixth years first. She never particularly liked or disliked Professor Slughorn. He was a good teacher, albeit a bit too enthusiastic at times. Also, his tendency to pick favorites in his class was not great for teaching, but Daphne did admit that the great walrus had taught even herself a thing or two at potions. Daphne herself was very talented at potions, even surpassing Granger, although this knowledge was only known by a very select few. As there really was no way to compare the class's skill at potions, people just assumed Granger was the best, as she answered every question. Since Snape was known for favoring his own students, the praise Daphne got from Snape was pretty much ignored by the Gryffindors, as they thought that Snape was favoring his own students like usual.

When Professor Slughorn approached Daphne and Tracey, he smiled amiably and said,

"Oho, who do we have here? Ahh yes, Ms. Greengrass and Ms. Davis. The Headmistress has decided that since the repeat seventh year class is so small with the casualties in the war, that the whole year will have every class together. This means that there will be some big and some small classes. Also, you are eligible to take courses that you did not take before, as the Ministry has decided that since there was a huge opening in jobs after the war, you can study a course that you have not taken before, and attempt to master it. Thus, here is a selection of the new courses for this year that are open for both sixth and seventh years. You will have the first week of school to decide, in which there will be no classes for sixth and seventh year. You can enjoy it as if it were the last week of summer, just at school this year. At the end of the week, I will collect your choices, and you will receive your new schedules next Monday. Do you have any questions?"

Tracey and Daphne looked at each other, and shook their heads simultaneously.

"Good, here are the choices." Slughorn passed around the paper, and moved down the table.

As Daphne watched him go, her thoughts turned to the book she had been reading the night before. She had found some things in the book that did allow her to void the marriage, but all were either illegal or were such terrible acts that Daphne did not even want to consider those options. She sighed. The only way out of this marriage was if Weasley somehow fell into a hole somewhere without his wand and died. That would probably be the only way she, Daphne Greengrass, could be free. She sighed in resignation. This week would probably be a prime opportunity to at least get to know Weasley and his friends. After all, she didn't want to be unprepared in what looked like an inevitable marriage.

She strode out of the Great Hall, Tracey by her side. They didn't have much to do. Many boys had been talking about holding a Quidditch match on the Pitch, but neither Daphne nor Tracey took much interest in Quidditch. Sure, they had both gone to the World Cup, but that was merely because they were almost obligated to go, as almost every wizarding family that could afford the tickets would be going. Hell, even the Weasleys went.

As they left the Hall, they encountered a couple of the remnants of Malfoy's old posse. The seventh years that had been part of Malfoy's group had mostly either died or been sentenced to Azkaban, but these were sixth years. They had never been sentenced, because they did not take part in the final battle at Hogwarts. Now, their swagger and their arrogance were back.

"Greengrass, you're looking well. Want to join me in my bedroom tonight?" one of the blokes snickered as he nudged his friend.

Daphne turned her cold eyes on him, but he didn't flinch.

The guy next to him smirked, "You don't need to put on that cold face, Greengrass. We know you like boys. Especially a certain redhead named Ronald Weasley."

Daphne had her wand out and a Stinging Hex sent right at the boy in less than a second. The boy fell to his knees in pain, as his mates gathered around him.

"If I ever hear you say his name again, you pathetic excuse for a human being, I WILL personally castrate you, tie you up, and throw you into the Forbidden Forest. I heard that the remnants of Voldemort's forces still lurk in the shadows there. I bet that they'll be extremely pleased to see you. They must be getting very, very hungry." Daphne said coldly, but with a murderous glint in her eyes.

The boys took one look at her, grabbed their friend, and dragged him up the stairs, presumably to bring him to Madam Pomfrey, as his cries of pain had not diminished since Daphne had first hit him with the hex.

Tracey looked at her in both awe and fear.

"Wow, I didn't know that Weasley had that great of an effect on you. I can deal with the normal Ice Queen actions, but that…that scared the hell out of me."

"Good," said Daphne vindictively, "if that scared you, it should've made them wet themselves. That should keep them away for some time."

**oOo**

** Sorry. It was more of a filler chapter than anything else. I needed to get them started on the school year. Classes should start the next chapter or the chapter after that.**

** Also, sorry this chapter took so long to upload. My computer had issues. **

** As always, please Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 8

Chapter 8 is finally up. I lost track because the House of Hades by Rick Riordan in the PJO/HHO series came out, so I was caught up in that. Yeah, sorry for the long wait.

For the anonymous reviews…please just name yourself something. Don't just leave it blank or something and just have it pop up as guest. I've said this like three times, but no one listens. Also, if you want to skip it, feel free.

Anonymous review answers(in chronological order so if I rant at the wrong person, then sorry)

Guest 1: I don't understand why people just can't seem to understand. It's Daphne's Point of View! I'm writing from a third person limited omniscient writing style (creds go to my English teacher). Please understand that Daphne dislikes Ron simply because of the stories she has heard about him, and because he is a blood traitor. Pureblood bigotrism okay? Why do you think Malfoy immediately judged Ron in book 1 before he even got to know his personality? Same principle here. This is not a story where Daphne and Tracey and sometimes Blaise are the only ones in Slytherin who don't hate Gryffindors for no reason. If you are/were expecting that kind of story, well sorry, but that ain't gonna happen. Daphne is just as bigoted currently as Malfoy. Okay? Also, there is some MINOR bashing of Ron currently. He's not portrayed as a greedy, ugly, annoying prat who tries to take advantage of Harry's money in this story. That's what I think is the heaviest bashing that Ron has received in fics. This has none of that. If you can't tolerate an author showing Ron in a less than perfect light, then I'm sorry, but you are going to have to look very hard for a Ron-centric fic. He's not the main character, so he's not going to be in the center of most fics.

Guest 2: Again, how am I hating on Ron? Can people not tolerate just a simple materialistic Ron who has good base natures? If you dislike this part of the story then don't read it…It's that simple.

Guest 3: I don't know if I made myself clear before, but there will be NO HAREM! No explicit content, no harem, and I am NOT hating on Ron. Harry is NOT Mr. Uber Perfect, as you described. He has his faults as well. About the Daphne being just as worst of Malfoy; well, that's kind of the point. She starts out the story as a cold-hearted bitch. Then, maybe she'll change her personality, or maybe she'll marry Malfoy and become just like him. I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't plan on telling any of you, as that would ruin the story.

Whew, now that I got that out of the way, here is the Important Information part of the Author's Note.

**Important Information:**

** I'm still looking for a beta, PM if you're interested. Dunno how much longer I'm gonna put this in the Author's notes. **

** I forget what the potions book for sixth years is called. It was the one that Snape owned in which he wrote down notes about his own spells. I just referred to it as Snape's old potions book in this chapter. Send me a PM or leave a review and tell me what the name of the book was called please.**

**Although this story's rating has been changed to M, there shouldn't be many things that would offend you, unless you are easily offended. Minor cursing, drinking, and that's just about it. Maybe some romance, but again NOTHING EXPLICIT!**

Sorry about the long author's note. Enjoy Chapter 8.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Harry exited the Great Hall after dinner, bringing up a bundle of food for Ron and Hermione, who had both stayed in the Common Room. Ron had, as usual, procrastinated until the last second, and was now frantically scraping together the last of his summer homework. Lost in thought, Harry didn't see the girl walking into the Great Hall until he ran into her.

Thankfully, it was more of a slight push than a full-on collision, but Harry paled instantly. He was staring at the end of a wand, pointed right between his eyes by Daphne Greengrass, the girl who had starred in quite a few of his dreams of late.

"Watch where you're going Potter." Daphne said coldly.

Harry could only nod, before he squeeze past Daphne and into the corridor behind her.

"Wait, Potter!" she called.

Harry turned around with his eyebrows raised. "Yes?"

"I need to speak with…the We-, Weasley." She said, looking as if she had just smelled a dead skunk when she said his name.

Harry frowned, and said, "Okay. Go ahead and ask him."

Daphne replied, "I would if I could find him. I'm asking you, Potter, to set up a meeting between us."

Harry turned back around, "I'll see what I can do."

That was a bad idea.

The next thing Harry felt was a searing pain on his right buttock, and knew it was the famed Ice Princess Stinging Hex. He hopped around in pain, until Daphne removed the hex.

"You know, Greengrass, that if you are indeed planning to marry Ron, you should at least be non-violent towards him and his friends."

Daphne's face remained impassive.

"Set up a meeting between us."

Harry was angry, but he didn't want to start a duel right outside the Great Hall, considering that Professor McGonagall was sitting inside the Great Hall, and he did not want to risk her wrath should he start a fight between them. He'd served too many detentions with Filch in the trophy room and lived with the Dursleys too long to ever want to go back to cleaning the Muggle way.

"Fine, but I'm going to be there, and so is Hermione."

Daphne shrugged, indifferent. "Go ahead. I'm bringing Tracey anyways."

Harry nodded, turned and climbed the steps, ignoring the residual pain in his buttock. When he reached the Common Room, he found Ron frantically leafing through books while Hermione lectured him, and corrected his essay. As Harry walked over, he glanced at the essay and cringed. It was titled _The Ingredients and Procedure or the Brewing of the Wolfsbane Potion_. Although, Professor Slughorn was a much fairer grader than Professor Snape had ever been in Potions, Ron was still lousy at potions. Harry couldn't understand for the life of him why Ron continued with potions, considering that he had no aptitude for the subject. Now that he considered it, Ron didn't show particular talent in any classes. Sure, he was decent at Transfiguration, Defence, and Charms, but he had never been outstanding. Harry wondered if that was a case of lack of talent, or a lack of a good work ethic. Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he reached into his bag, and tossed the bundle of food wrapped inside quite a few napkins onto the table. Ron immediately ditched the book he had been leafing through, opened the bundle, grabbed two chicken legs, and began to tear them apart. Hermione, although not even close to being done with her lecture on schoolwork, procrastination, and the need for a plan, could not resist the lure of food when she hadn't eaten in over seven hours. She grabbed some food and began to eat as well, although more conservatively than Ron's frantic gulping.

Harry sat down and said, "I met Daphne today, and she wants to set up a meeting with you mate."

Ron swallowed, which was a vast improvement from previous times. Apparently, Hermione had been spending some time recently drilling Ron about his manners. (**A/N: NOW ARE YOU GUYS HAPPY?) **

"When'd you see her?"

"Today, as I was leaving the Great Hall after dinner. I walked into her."

Ron smirked, and asked, "Which part of your body?"

Harry grimaced, "Don't ask."

"Well, since this week is essentially a free week, and I should be done all my homework by Wednesday, how about Thursday at one after lunch in Hogsmeade?"

Returning sixth years and above had been granted free access to Hogsmeade whenever they wished to go, so long as they kept up with their schoolwork. If you missed more than three assignments, this privilege would be taken away. However, since it was the start of the school year, everybody in sixth year and above could go, so there was no problem meeting there on Thursday.

"That's okay for me, how about you Hermione?"

"Wait, we all go? I thought it would just be Ron and Daphne getting to know each other." Hermione said.

"Hermione, if we didn't go, who knows what animal Ron would be turned into before the end of the conversation? We sure hope he doesn't end up a ferret like Malfoy." Harry replied.

"I'm free on Thursday, since I finished all the textbooks for the year."

Both Harry and Ron didn't bother commenting on her schoolwork obsession. Ron, after polishing off the last of the food, returned to his homework, while Harry retired to his bed, where he took out Snape's old potion book and began to read the last few pages, which held quite a few interesting new spells he was planning on using on several potential targets, the first being Zacharias Smith.

**oOo**

Tracey Davis was surprised and suspicious at the same time. The handsome boy, who had before broken so many hearts casually, Blaise Zabini, had been flirting with her for weeks, and had just confessed his love for her in the Common Room. He had loved her ever since sixth year in fact. Just then, Daphne walked into the Common Room, Ice Queen persona perfected, but Tracey knew her friend well enough to see that something was different. She seemed distracted and angry, or at least more so than usual. Sure, most people couldn't tell any difference, but Tracey had known Daphne since they were born. Tracey needed to talk to Daphne about Blaise first though, so she grabbed her friend by the arm and dragged her up the staircase. As soon as they reached their dormitory, Tracey shut the door behind her, locked it, and put a Silencing Charm on it, before turning around and falling onto her bed.

Daphne was impatient to talk to Tracey about Weasley and her contract, but knew that Tracey had something important to say, as she usually was the one being dragged around, and had listened to Daphne in the past whenever there was some pressing concern on her mind, which mostly consisted of boys who were making obvious advances on her.

After listening to Tracey explain everything that had happened while Daphne was at dinner, Daphne having gone after Tracey because she was held up in the Common Room by her sister, who needed her help in organizing her belongings. Since Daphne always had a soft spot for her sister, and since she was a great organizer, while Astoria was a horrible one, she always ended up spending the first night or so helping her sister set up her dormitory for the year.

Daphne, having dated no boys and being more ignorant than Tracey when it came to romantic relationships, offered the best advice she had, before starting on her own problems. Namely, a red-headed prat by the name of Ronald Weasley.

"I asked Potter to set up a meeting between the Weasel and myself, and I was hoping that you wouldn't mind coming along with me."

Tracey raised her eyebrows, "You asked Potter? Why not Weasel himself?"

"I would have, if he'd been at dinner, but he didn't show up. I don't know, he's probably sick or something. The Weasel would never miss a meal if he had any other option."

Tracey said, "Of course, I'll go. It'll give me a chance to know the Golden Trio better. I want to see what they're really like."

Daphne frowned, "And why is that?"

Tracey smirked, "Why, Potter's hot of course."

Daphne burst out laughing, which was very unusual of her, given her normally cold, distant, and disinterested mask.

"Potter? He's got thousands of witches going after him, not to mention the little Weaslette as well. What chance do you have?"

Tracey smiled mischievously, "I'll find a way."

**oOo**

On Wednesday, at dinner, Harry Potter was searching for Daphne Greengrass to inform her about the coming meeting on Thursday. He found her just entering the Great Hall, with a younger girl by her side, with some very similar physical attributes. Harry remembered that she had been there at the meeting in Diagon Alley, and knew that it was Daphne's younger sister, Astoria. He approached the two of them cautiously.

"Daphne, a word." He said.

Daphne turned around, "Potter. Have you found a time for a meeting yet?"

Harry nodded. "Tomorrow at 1 at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade."

Daphne frowned, "Why Hogsmeade?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, "I assumed that you would like some privacy when discussing the contract."

Daphne looked around quickly, and then hissed, "Don't talk about the contract. It's bad enough that it's going to happen, but I don't want it spread around the school. Hogsmeade is not a bad idea, but go to the Hog's Head instead. There's less of a chance of being overheard by people from school there."

Harry nodded, having gone to Hog's Head before to escape both teachers and students alike, and he also looked forward to seeing Aberforth again, having gotten no chance to do so after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Daphne nodded, turned and walked to the Slytherin Table. There were a few questioning looks, especially since the Slytherin Ice Princess was talking to the Gryffindor Golden Boy, but both their reputations were scary enough for most to not do anything more than look curious.

**oOo**

After dinner, Daphne went on a walk around the castle. She couldn't really explain why she did it, but she needed to clear her head, and the Slytherin Common Room still had a small, but vocal group of pureblood supremists who just wouldn't shut up. She needed some time alone to think.

Walking up a staircase, she noticed a boy with his leg stuck in the trip step. She at first thought that it was a newer student, having not gotten to know the school and it's trip steps well enough to know to jump them, but upon closer examination, saw that the boy, whoever it was, was much too old to be a new student. The boy turned around, and went red when he saw who it was that was approaching him.

"D-Daphne."

"Longbottom. Still getting stuck in the trick steps, I see."

Neville gulped. He was never a courageous person. Yet, there she stood, beautiful, cold, angelic. She looked just like she always did, and he felt his heart beating faster, his hands grow sweaty. Neville knew he had to tell her, before she got swept away by some Slytherin suitor.

"Daphne…I like you."

"Sorry?" Daphne said, not believing her ears.

"I…like you."

The words dropped like a bombshell.

**oOo**

Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? This story is going to get complicated, real fast, and real soon.

As always, leave a review! Please do not complain on and on about Ron and his "shortcomings" in this story. It does get old having to respond over and over again.

A longer chapter than usual, I suppose, so I hope you enjoyed.


	9. Chapter 9

Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 9

** Wow, it's been quite a while since I've updated this story. Sorry about that. Mainly was because I'm planning another story, which is insane of me, I know, since I'm working on this story and betaing two others. Anyways, I finally got some time to sit down and really think about where I wanted this story to go. Here is the next chapter!**

** Anonymous Review (Well, at least all but one of the reviewers were real authors):**

** Guest: Please do not use terms such as Man-Who-Conquered or Marauder Heir to describe Harry. That makes him seem godlike and powerful, which is NOT the intent of this story. Harry is just a regular average wizard who happened to have the power to destroy Lord Voldemort BECAUSE Lord Voldemort marked him "as his equal" when he was one. If you guys don't like the idea of an average wizard Harry who would probably get his ass whipped by a Slytherin pureblood girl who was probably taught all kinds of nasty spells at home, then this story is not for you. Also, even if Harry managed to win the duel, he's not the type of person who would willingly get into trouble. I mean, he's taken a lot of insults over the years over Quidditch, House Rivalries, etc. so a little more won't goad him into a fight. Harry is not an overpowered Merlin with serious anger issues. Sorry.**

** Wow, this story got over 50 reviews! :D You guys are the best. You all get cookies!**

** Important Information:**

** The meeting between Ron and Daphne and their friends is on the first Thursday of the school year at 1:00 P.M. at the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade. I want to make sure everyone understands that.**

** For those who are wondering what the pairing(s) are…well you'll have to read on to find out.**

** I have two people who have volunteered as a beta for me, so thank you to both of them (GroveWolf and Wisebeyondyears). Hopefully you guys can add some ideas to this story that I would have never thought of.**

** Again… nobody is dating anybody, and don't assume that anybody is dating anyone until it actually happens. **

** This is a pentagon story :D. I hope no one has ever done this before. If you were wondering what the pentagon was, it's Harry/Daphne/Ron/Tracey/Neville**

** That's all for this author's note, so enjoy Chapter 9.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass was confused, flattered, and scared all at once. She was confused that so many Gryffindors who had previously ignored her were now showing an interest in her. Only the other day, she had caught Seamus Finnegan staring at her assets as she walked out of the Great Hall after lunch. Now, Neville Longbottom was expressing his crush on her. She didn't understand. Were Slytherins really that feared and shunned by society before the fall of Voldemort?

The shy boy in front of her was literally quaking. Neville was scared to death that Daphne was going to hex him with some painful hex that he would not be able to dodge or deflect, since he was currently stuck on the trip step of the staircase which rendered him immobile. He was beginning to think that telling Daphne about his crush on her was probably not the greatest idea at the time, when Daphne spoke up.

"I never knew you liked girls from Slytherin, Longbottom."

Neville was surprised. He had never in a million years expected the Ice Princess of Slytherin to actually be civil to him, especially after he had admitted to her about his crush.

"I-I-I don't know. I just have this feeling when I see you."

Daphne smiled. An honest to goodness smile, not the cold smile she gave boys before she hexed them.

"Well, you did a very good job at hiding it."

Neville was literally on cloud nine. The smile, the cordial tone, was shocking to him.

"I-I suppose so."

Daphne frowned inwardly. She had hoped that Longbottom had slightly more spine in him. She had smiled in the hopes that it would help him gain more confidence, but that didn't work very well.

Still, Daphne attempted to hold a civil and friendly conversation with the stammering, shy Gryffindor. She wasn't exactly sure why she would do this with Longbottom of all people. If she had to choose any Gryffindor to hold that kind of conversation with, it would probably have been Potter, as he seemed the least hostile to Slytherins out of all the Gryffindors, at least in the more recent years. However, now that she looked back, she realized that Longbottom, despite his constant suffering because of the many insults, failures, and hexes that he had endured, had never really been hostile to Slytherins. He had mostly avoided them, and was a loner in the school, occasionally talking to the Golden Trio.

As the conversation eventually ground to a halt because of the appearance of Argus Filch through a nearby tapestry, who shooed them back to their respective Common Rooms, because it was fifteen minutes before curfew. She hastily said goodbye, and walked down to the dungeons.

There, Tracey was sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire. When she saw Daphne enter, she stood up immediately.

"Where were you? I thought you would have gotten here sooner."

"I would have, but I bumped into Longbotttom."

"Longbottom? What, did the two of you walk past the doors of the Great Hall together or something?"

"No. I was walking past the staircase, and I saw Longbottom stuck in that trip step that he always forgets about."

Tracey smirked, "I forgot that he always did that, even though he is a war hero for killing Voldemort's snake."

Daphne shrugged that particular comment off, and stated, "While we were talking, he had also confessed his crush on me."

Tracey looked at her, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"And here I was thinking you had no sense of humor. I've gotta admit, if it was anybody except me, he or she would've fallen for that."

Daphne smirked at her, "Well, seems that everybody but you is correct."

Tracey's mouth fell open.

"Longbottom? Are you serious?"

"Yes. He was actually quite an… interesting person."

"Don't tell me your interested in him, Daph."

Daphne frowned, "Don't call me Daph, how many times do I have to tell you that. And what does it matter what I feel for him, I'm stuck in a stupid magical marriage contract that I cannot break."

Tracey mock gasped. "You DO like him!"

Daphne snorted, "Longbottom? No, he's not my type. Although he is your type, Tracey, all sweet and quiet. He'd balance you out properly!"

Daphne dodged the object that was heading at her face, not even wanting to know what might be inside. She had figured out over the years that Tracey kept a number of rather mysterious and unpleasant things close to her, and had once hit an unsuspecting Draco Malfoy with something that caused him to be castrated for a month. Daphne was sure that Madam Pomfrey could've restored him to full health with a wave of her wand, but she seemed rather reluctant to do so. It was after a rather late night with Professor Dumbledore that finally convinced the medi-witch to heal the ferret.

She heard a "Urgh, what the-" behind her and saw Blaise Zabini standing there looking rather surprised and scared. Suddenly, he started to blurt out many, rather embarrassing facts.

Daphne figured out in about two seconds that it was some Truth potion that apparently dissolved into the skin and took effect there. Daphne had never seen it before, but since Tracey was probably the best at potions, even better than Granger, although she tried not to show it off in everyday class unlike the bushy-haired bookworm, Daphne wasn't particularly surprised. Blaise, meanwhile, was spilling his most embarrassing secrets, from the one time that he had gotten drunk at the Quidditch celebration and danced naked in the boys bathroom where Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had caught him when he started singing Taylor Swift at the top of his lungs. That was the party where Slytherin had managed to defeat Hufflepuff, a pitiful achievement as Hufflepuff's team that year was lousy, and there was a huge party in the Common Room, with Malfoy bragging about his distraction of the Hufflepuff's seeker so that the chaser's could score over and over again, and get ahead by more than one-hundred and fifty points. In reality, Malfoy had merely flew around the pitch over and over again, trying in vain to catch sight of anything, be it the Hufflepuff seeker or the Snitch.

Then, Blaise, unwillingly of course, told the whole Common Room that all the girls he had ever dated and/or flirted with, would only be playthings, not someone he would want to have a serious relationship with. That caused Blaise Zabini's night to get even worse. By the time he went to bed, he was in pain from quite a few hexes cast at his bits.

As she lay in bed that night, Daphne pondered Neville Longbottom. She had never really talked to him during the course of their seven years at Hogwarts, and she didn't really know him that well. She sighed, and rolled over. She would talk to him sometime this year and get to know him better. Until then, she would reserve judgment on him and his crush.

**oOo**

** So I wanted to get to the meeting in this chapter, but I had a lot to clear up, like Blaise and his personality. This is an incredibly short chapter, but I was rushed (10:25 P.M. with a huge project not even started yet…)**

** Well, hope you enjoyed, and leave a review! Hopefully we can get to 100 reviews. That will make me a very happy author.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 10**

**So, I felt sorry about that last chapter, as it was really quite terrible. So, I decided to update once again. Also, credit is given to wisebeyondyears for betaing that last chapter, despite the fact that I have yet to implement some of the ideas suggested to me.**

** So, I decided not to write a specific response to each anonymous review, since I got a couple that was like follows:**

_OMG, you made Neville and Daphne fall in love together? WTF? I hate Ron, and the idea of anything except Harry/Daphne is despicable. I'm out of this horrid story._

** Now add a couple of cuss words into that review, and you have a pretty accurate idea of what I got. Well, that sucks, to be honest, but I feel obligated to respond to at least some parts of the review, despite the fact that it is probably a waste of time on my part.**

** So, you dislike Neville/Daphne huh? Well, news flash, they're not together. Did I state they were together? No. Did I ever put in my previous author's notes that you should NOT assume that Daphne is in a relationship with ANY guy until they formally admit it to each other? I put that in every author's note from like chapter 5 onwards or something, because I got so many people flaming about Ron/Daphne, even though all that's happened is a marriage contract, which as I understand, CAN be broken. So, for like the fifth time, DO NOT ASSUME that Daphne is in a relationship with ANY boy, girl, magical creature, etc. (just so we're absolutely clear) until they literally start calling each other girlfriend, boyfriend, or…elf-friend?**

** Okay, got that out of the way.**

** Important Information:**

** Updating might be slower for the next month, because I cannot get onto Fanfiction as my computer is finally getting replaced! Yay! But less chapters for you guys, which is also a bummer.**

** The timeline of this story is completely canon, that is to say, everything that happened in the books, happened in this storyline. It's just after Voldemort's fall that things start to change. I really hated Nineteen Years Later…**

** If any of you would like to suggest ANYTHING to this story, feel free to PM. If it is a good idea, I will credit you. I hope you guys do send me some ideas, as it always helps to write more than what this voice in my head is telling me to each time I start a chapter.**

** Enough of this Author's Note, enjoy Chapter 10!**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Those wonderful stories were written by J.K. Rowling and not me. *Sob* This is for ENTERTAINMENT purposes only. Nothing is owned by me except for the idea and the chapters in THIS story.**

**oOo**

Neville Longbottom entered the Gryffindor Common Room five minutes before curfew. His mind was still spinning, and he was still dreaming about the gorgeous girl who he had met on the staircase. She had even helped him out of the trip staircase, although she hadn't touched him, instead opting to magic him out of it. Neville had been disappointed; he wouldn't have minded being one of the only boys that Daphne Greengrass had willingly touched that did not occur under violent circumstances.

When he entered, he saw the Golden Trio look up. Neville liked Harry, and, like everyone else, idolized the Gryffindor Golden Boy for his defeat of Lord Voldemort. He was indifferent towards Ron, as he knew that Ron could be a loyal friend at times, and a right git at others. He had heard from Hermione what Ron had done during their time hunting Horcruxes across the country.

Hermione had begun to try and master Herbology, as she had already finished her mastery of Charms, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. (**A/N: By mastery, I mean like the equivalent of someone who is an expert in his/her field of study/research) **Neville was flattered that Hermione would ask him for help, even though it was widely accepted throughout the school, even by Slytherins, that he was the best at Herbology, which obviously led to Slytherins claiming that subject was useless, and that most Slytherins had dropped the class after their OWL year.

During their studying time together, Neville had become close with Hermione, and had listened to quite a few descriptions of what it was like to be on the run with Harry, hunted by thousands of witches and wizards, whether or not they were Death Eaters or just greedy bastards who wanted the bounty that was sitting on Harry's head. He learned how much the hunt had strained their friendship, and yet it had also strengthened it as well, since the three were able to work through their differences like they had over the course of their school years at Hogwarts. Neville was shocked that Ron would just walk out on Harry after an argument. He felt that Ron had overreacted, and even though he did save Harry's life when he came back to them a couple of weeks alter, Neville still couldn't acceot the fact that somebody would ditch their friends in the wilderness just because of one disagreement and for a couple of creature comforts in a real house instead of a tent in the middle of nowhere surrounded by protection spells.

Ron stood up, leaving the trio, and walked towards Neville.

"Hey Neville, where have you been? You're usually here before all of us ever arrive."

"I got held up by the trip staircase again." Neville said, flushing with embarrassment.

"Oh, again? Neville, after eight years you still haven't memorized where all of them are?"

Neville shrugged off that comment. "I saw Daphne there."

Ron tensed. "Daphne? As in Daphne Greengrass?"

Neville nodded absentmindedly, his thoughts still centered on the girl who had smiled at HIM of all people.

Ron glared at him. "Did you hit on her?"

Neville was torn from his thoughts. "Whaa-"

"I asked, did you hit on her?"

Neville shook his head. "I just told her I liked her, and then we talked a bit."

"You admitted you like her?!"

"Yes, Ron, I like her. She seems to be an interesting enough person with something deep inside that is causing her to be this cold and distant from everyone except her friends."

"Did you know that she was betrothed to me?" Ron growled with barely controlled anger.

Neville shook his head, blatantly ignoring the fact that Ron was angry, as he was turning the "famous Weasley red"

"Well, she is, so keep away from her. She's going to be my wife, and I want her to be faithful."

Neville shook his head. "No, you can't control her life before she gets married to you. I can be with her for as long as I want, and we can do anything together. You can't control us."

Ron was "this" close to hexing Neville, when Harry spoke up quietly behind him.

"He's right, Ronald. You can't control who Daphne spends her time with, and who she likes. Hell, I wouldn't suggest trying to control her even after your marriage, because I really don't think you want to mess with that nasty Stinging Jinx of hers. I STILL fell pain whenever I sit down, and it's been almost three days already."

Ron suddenly laughed out loud.

Neville looked at him curiously, as Ron continued to laugh.

"You'll never get on her good side. Nobody does. Nobody is ever able to be even worthy of her attention other than that Slytherin friend of hers."

"Tracey Davis." Harry said quietly.

"Whatever" Ron said, "I'm going to bed."

As he headed for the stairs, Neville was sorely tempted to hit him with a Confundus charm so that he would accidentally take the staircase to the girls dormitories and get shot out by the staircase, but decided against it as Harry was standing right there.

Harry ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even further, as he spoke, "Sorry about that. I don't know what's gotten into him lately. He's gotten so paranoid over somebody stealing "his" Daphne that he flys into a rage whenever another boy even mentions her name. I hope this information doesn't get around to Daphne or Ron will never live through our meeting with her at Hogsmeade."

"Wait, you guys are meeting at Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, to discuss the contract and to get to know each other better."

Harry sounded wistful, and Neville looked at him curiously. He was never really good at judging emotions, although he had one friend who was exceptional at it. Unfortunately, he couldn't just call on Luna Lovegood at that very moment to help him judge Harry's expression. Still, by the look of longing and sadness in Harry's eyes, Neville suspected that Harry also had a crush on Daphne just like him, and that Ron's overprotecting behavior was forcing him to keep quiet about it.

"Well, Neville, I've got to sleep, or else I'll be so tired tomorrow that I'll seem like a braindead zombie. Hermione always wakes us up at 8, and forces us to go to the library with her after breakfast. I can't believe she still hasn't given up on S.P.E.W. yet."

Neville paled. "I signed up for that too, but only to stop her from badgering me."

Harry laughed, "Good luck, mate. She'll be on your case after she finishes ruining my sleeping habits. She reminds me of Oliver a little too much sometimes."

**oOo**

The day dawned sunny and warm, and there was not a cloud in the sky. Daphne Greengrass sat up in her bed, and marveled at the fact that for the first time in a very long time, the girls dormitory of the Slythering Common Room was not cold. Normally, the Slytherin Common Room was always cold, and people suspected that there was some permanent freezing charm at the bottom of the lake, and the cold from the charm seeped into the Slytherin Common Room. Even during the spring, people wore sweaters and long pants in the Common Room, although they always made sure to change before going outside.

She shook Tracey awake, before heading into the bathroom to wash up and prepare for the day. As she took a shower, she planned out the day ahead. Having a plan for the day was perhaps the most important aspect of life for Daphne Greengrass, as it was the only way to enable her to allot her time so that she didn't have to spend too much time in the Common Room at one time, where all the Slytherin boys seemed to have nothing better to do than leer at her all the time. They always leered at her, and never any other girl, because of her prominent chest and long, stunning legs, amongst other "assets". Tracey was cute, but she was always by her side, and boys just seemed to find her more attractive every single time.

Daphne groaned as she remembered that today was the day in which she had to meet up with Weasley, Potter, and Granger in Hogsmeade to discuss the contract. She had already gotten permission from her Head of House, Professor Slughorn, to visit the village, although she kept the real reason for visiting a secret from him. She dressed, did her makeup, and sat on her bed, waiting for Tracey. When Tracey emerged, the two headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. On the way, however, they bumped into a ferocious Hermione Granger dragging a red-faced Ronald Weasley down the corridor. They were too busy with their conversation to notice them, which was a relief, as Daphne didn't want to spend anymore time than what was absolutely unavoidable with the Weasel.

"How many times has this happened before, Ron? You leave your homework until the last day, and then you can't get it done, and you rely on ME, who doesn't procrastinate and actually does work before the last day, to give you the answers. Now, you are going to stay in the Common Room and I will sit there with you and watch you do it. And I swear, if you even START talking about Quidditch or Daphne Greengrass I will never, EVER help you with your homework again."

Daphne and Tracey looked at each other.

"What now? Is there going to be no meeting?"

Tracey shrugged.

"We've got to find Potter and ask him." Daphne decided. She turned and strode off towards the Great Hall, Tracey jogging to keep up. Along the way, they passed Blaise Zabini, who was a bit preoccupied by the boils that were springing up on his face. Daphne wasn't surprised. Ever since he confessed all his secrets in the Common Room because of Tracey's mysterious object, he had been on the receiving end of quite a few nasty hexes. Daphne felt no pity for him. He was leading on her best friend.

"Densaugeo." Daphne thought in her head. A few seconds later, Blaise resembled a walrus with a very bad case of sunburn. Tracey smirked at her friend's act, and continued walking towards the Great Hall, where she saw a certain green-eyed wizard enter, followed by a couple of girls who were apparently part of the Harry Potter fan club that Ginny Weasley had started way back in their second year at Hogwarts.

**oOo**

** I lied again. The meeting is not this chapter. I needed to find an excuse for Ron to get out of the meeting. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, does sunburn give you boils? I hope it does, or can someone suggest a better disease for me? Thanks.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 11**

** A/N: I'm actually typing this story on my school laptop, then transferring it whenever I can to another computer, so I'm sorry about the slow updates. Also, since I can't visit Fanfiction for like the next month or so, I won't be able to respond to the anonymous reviews. I'm sorry about that. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'm hoping that you all will make me incredibly happy and get me to 100 reviews by the end of next month (November). This story so far has been a blast to write, and it's going to get even better as time goes on.**

** Once again, updating speed will be slow, and I'm sorry, but I hope I can get at least one per week. To my beta, wisebeyondyears, and potential beta GroveWolf, you guys are awesome. If you have the time, just copy and paste my story into a word Document or something, since I might not be able to send a Docx with a chapter for the next month. I'm really sorry. Your corrections that you have sent me previously might not be edited until the end of the month, since I can barely get onto the site. Stupid school computers…**

** Important Information:**

** I understand that some people are displeased by the fact that Harry is not at least an above average wizard. I feel that Harry is an average wizard in every aspect except when it comes to Defence Against the Dark Arts. He is exceptional in that field. If this displeases you, then sorry. In all the books, Harry didn't perform exceptionally in any class except Defence. So…deal with it.**

** Also, no Ginny bashing in this story. Don't take the following content in this chapter as Ginny bashing. It was not the intention when I was writing the chapter.**

** The meeting got changed around a bit. A new idea struck me. Hope you guys weren't looking forward to that too much. There will still be a meeting, but under different circumstances.**

** Enjoy the chapter! :D**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This is for ENTERAINMENT Purposes Only. Disclaimers are really getting old, aren't they?**

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass passed a doubled-over Blaise Zabini, watching him carefully if he decided to hit her with a curse. He didn't, and merely sprinted up the stairs towards the Hospital Wing while simultaneously trying to cover his lengthening teeth and the boils all over his face.

As she entered the Great Hall, she scanned the room, looking around to try and catch a glimpse of the famous Boy-Who-Lived. She located the Gryffindor Golden Boy at the Gryffindor Table, sitting with Neville Longbottom, who looked like he hadn't slept at all, and Ginny Weasley. As Daphne approached, Ginny glared at her. She maintained her cold, Ice Queen, mask.

"Potter!" she called.

Harry turned around, his exasperation evident on his face. She didn't understand why he would be so exasperated, but she didn't particularly care. All she wanted was for her last year at Hogwarts to pass without incident, before she started planning her future, and what she would plan to do about a certain Ronald Weasley. Her composure remained icy cold, and she stared at him. Neville had also turned around. The boy was blushing furiously, but Daphne didn't even spare him a glance. All her attention was focused on Harry Potter.

"As I was entering the Great Hall, I noticed Granger dragging the Weasel to the Gryffindor Common Room. Are they coming to the meeting."

Harry sighed. "That's what I was going to come and talk to you about once you came for breakfast. Ron didn't do his homework. He was planning on doing it over the weekend, but then he got invited to practice Quidditch to try out for the Quidditch team this year. Now, he has no time, and Hermione dragged him to the Common Room and told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn't finish his homework he wouldn't be going anywhere. I don't think we can do the meeting today with him."

"Well, Potter, are you free today?"

Harry was rather surprised, since his schedule shouldn't be a concern to Daphne if Ron wasn't going to go to the scheduled meeting.

"Well, I have nothing much to do today, so I thought I might fly around the pitch for some time, maybe with Ginny and Neville and anyone else that wants to come."

"Oh. Never mind then." Daphne turned away.

Harry was on the verge of turning around and continuing his conversation with Neville about the meeting between him and the beauty walking away. However, his curiosity got the better of him.

"Daphne, wait!"

Daphne turned around, her eyebrows raised. "I didn't know we had upgraded to a first-name basis, Potter."

Harry brushed off the cold statement, and asked, "Did you want something from me?"

"If you already have plans, I certainly won't infringe." Daphne said.

"I can make time. Quidditch won't take the whole day anyways."

Daphne relented, and said slowly, and for the first time that Harry could remember, awkwardly, "I need to talk to you."

Harry was confused. " Why do you need to talk to me if Ron isn't there. You guys need to get to know each other better."

"Yes, Potter, but I need to know you as well. Granger I have pretty good idea about, since she is in a lot of my classes. You, however, are still a mystery to me. Granger has never talked much about you to me or anyone else in my classes. I need to know Weasley's friends."

Harry understood now. Daphne wanted to get to know him better. At this time, Neville chose to speak up. Harry marveled at his bravery, how he had changed since the war, as he normally was shy and quiet when people spoke to others around him, no matter whether or not he agreed or disagreed with what they were saying.

"Daphne…?"

For the first time, Daphne turned and looked at Neville.

"Yes Longbottom?"

Neville recoiled inside. He thought that Daphne had liked him, or at least tolerated him during their talk in the corridor last night. He had stayed up the whole night thinking about it. He had wondered whether Daphne felt anything for him. He wanted to at least make friends with her.

Unfortunately, it seemed that all his thoughts were for nought. She hadn't paid him any attention, and had focused on Harry Potter, as most people did. Neville was not, by nature, a bitter person, but he was still sometimes envious of the attention that Harry received. A few years ago, Neville had also had a huge crush on Cho Chang, but he had no courage, and was somewhat of an outcast at the time, and could not possibly even dream of asking her out. Eventually, all he could do was watch Harry and Cho during Fifth Year DA meetings flirt with each other when they thought that was nobody was looking. It was probably true that nobody was really paying them any attention, but Neville was. He had been watching Cho for over a year by then, even before she had ever taken an interest in either Cedric or Harry. Now, here was another example. Neville had discovered that he really liked Daphne Greengrass before this contract was ever announced, and before Harry had ever taken any interest in the Slytherin Ice Queen. Neville shook off these thoughts. Harry was his friend, and he had never asked for any attention. As for girls, he liked girls just like most guys his age. There wasn't anything wrong with that. If he got more attention from girls, then that was his luck. Neville couldn't blame him. He shook off these thoughts, just as Harry was waving his arm in front of his face.

"Hello? Neville? You still with us?"

"Ye- Yes." Neville cursed himself for his stutter, which hadn't made an appearance in such a long time, as he shook his head to get rid of the cobwebs. Daphne was looking at him strangely.

Neville mentally kicked himself. Daphne was already paying more attention to Harry. If Neville continued to act this way, she would probably give up on him completely, if she hadn't already. He resolved to be more brave and polite in front of her.

Daphne stopped watching him and turned to Harry.

"When will you have time Potter? We need to talk."

"Very well, _Greengrass_," Harry replied, putting in emphasis on her last name.

She nodded, and left with Tracey Davis. Tracey took one longing look at Harry, which kind of made him uncomfortable, before leaving with her friend. Harry and Neville sat in silence for the rest of breakfast, and Ginny didn't disturb them. She got up, went down the table, and joined Dennis Creevey, who had never been the same since the war and the death of his brother.

**oOo**

Little Hangleton had never been the same after the murder of the Riddles and the War. Most of the Muggles had been killed. Now, some were returning. However, these were few and far between, and none stayed very long. Most just collected items left behind by friends and family who had previously lived there and then left. It was a "cursed" village. None was more avoided than Riddle Manor.

A young Auror had been stationed in Little Hangleton, at Riddle Manor, just to make sure that nothing strange happened in the graveyard where the resurrection of Voldemort had occurred. However, on this particular night, he was walking back from Greater Hangleton for some company. It was a rather boring and lonely job, staying in a deserted town and merely watching a graveyard all day. However, on this night, in the dilapidated Riddle Manor, a dozen people popped into existence. The gardens, once beautifully kept and maintained by an old garden keeper, had all either been destroyed or grown wildly in every direction. The people had their wands as they crept towards the house.

As soon as they popped into existence, one muttered, "Avada Kedavra."

The young Auror fell to the ground, dead. The Followers of Voldemort were on the move, once again.

"Homenum Revelio." One of the wizards muttered. When nothing was revealed, the dozen wizards relaxed, and entered the building.

A voice came from under one of the masks of the wizards. "Rowle, secure the perimeter and guard it. Yaxley, I want you and Smith to search out any useful resources here. The rest of you, follow me."

As the group split off, the one who had given the orders walked to the front. It was clear that this person was the shortest of the group. The person took off her mask as she entered the building. The moon shined down and illuminated the face.

If the young Auror were still alive, he would have been shocked. The moon shone brightly, and showed an ugly, toad-like face, with malice and darkness glittering in her eyes. Dolores Umbridge was finally openly Dark. The rise of the Dark Sorceress had begun.

**oOo**

** Well, I try to leave some suspense at the end of every chapter. Not sure if it worked here, but hey, I tried. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you think, it really does help. Also, I do respond to flames, in case you haven't noticed. I don't mind ranting at people. I just hope that other readers don't mind the long author's notes. **

** Yeah, yeah, Umbridge, maybe not the best candidate for Dark Lord/Sorceress whatever, but there aren't any REAL leaders left that are dark so…**

** Thank you again to wisebeyondyears and GroveWolf for betaing. Appreciate it.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 12**

** Sorry guys, I've been having trouble finding a way to update this story. Trust me, I've tried my best. Now, I'm getting my friend to proxy update for me. He's not even in the same country as me, so…you guys can see how hard I have tried to do this. I really wish school computers didn't ban Fanfiction, but I can understand why. I blame the people who write lemons on this site. They're the reason why schools ban this stuff. Some of the stories on this site are awesome, and the very best of those could even be books of their own of they hadn't been written as a spinoff of a bestselling series. I guess I've been lazy and busy studying for the SAT's, as well as working on another story. Crazy me. Well, enough of this rambling. **

** I'm off of MINECRACK! :D:D Now, I can focus on this story again, since I don't spend two hours playing that stupid game, and I've also finished the House of Hades. Yay me!**

** No anonymous review replies, since I haven't had much time to read reviews. Sorry.**

** Once again, credit goes to both GroveWolf and wisebeyondyears for helping with this story. Thanks guys, you are the best.**

** Important Information:**

** The Umbridge thing is not what you guys think it is. Don't freak, leave this story, flame, etc. I decided…I think I'll…well just read on and figure it out yourselves. No, I don't mention it in this chapter.**

** I SUCK AT JOKES! I'm being completely serious. I couldn't tell a joke to save my life. So…bear with me in this chapter.**

** Now, the next two chapters are what all of you Haphne fans have been waiting for, and the few Ron fans still reading this story will probably hate. Harry's conversation with Daphne occurs in these two chapters. Don't worry, I'm not planning on making this story into one of the typical Harry/Daphne love stories where she falls in love with him almost instantly despite being the Ice Queen, "cold on the outside", and having "unbreakable walls". (Spoiler ahead, read at your own risk) This is just a get-to-know-you kind of conversation. Enjoy, but this conversation has no immediate implications. I suppose it does really cement the triangle of Harry/Daphne/Ron, but that's about it. Some Harry/Tracey is mentioned. (End of Spoiler)**

** Again, this story is currently rated M because of language and some mildly suggestive themes in the future. NO SMUT!**

** Well, that's all I have to say, so as always enjoy the story.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. This was written for ENTERTAINMENT Purposes only. All rights go to Her Majesty J.K. Rowling. I only own the idea and the chapters of this story. Don't sue me, I'm just a guy trying to write a story.**

**oOo**

Harry flew circles around the Quidditch Pitch. There hadn't been as many people who turned up as he had hoped for, as most people had chosen to spend the day in Hogsmeade. Most people had been spending the week catching up with friends, and where better than in the Three Broomsticks enjoying a couple Butterbeers, or stocking up on sweets for the school year in Honeydukes. There wasn't much to do at Hogwarts without the regular schoolwork and classes. It was like the end of sixth year all over again, except this time without the grieving and sadness for Dumbledore's death. Ginny, Seamus, Dean, and Neville had come. Since there was only 5 of them, they couldn't really play any games, since the Quidditch Pitch was way too large for them to split into teams and play two-a-side Quidditch. Mostly, they just passed the Quaffle to each other and tried to show off their flying abilities by making increasingly difficult catches. Dean and Seamus had stopped flying and went to the locker rooms to shower before heading up to the school for lunch. Ginny had disappeared with a couple of friends to Hogsmeade, where they were planning to spend the rest of the day window-shopping. Neville had stayed with Harry, but had gone down to the locker rooms to change first. Harry tested his new model of the Firebolt now, since he couldn't do it while merely passing a Quaffle back and forth. He dove, cut sharply to the right, accelerated straight towards the goal posts, and swerving at the last moment. The newest Firebolt model indeed was the best broom he had ever flown. He noticed that it sometimes even responded to his subconscious, which meant that dodging Bludgers would be much easier, since Harry had an inner sense of where the metal balls of death were coming from, but sometimes didn't act on his inner gut feeling, which caused him to end up in the Hospital Wing a couple times, such as the incident during his Second Year.

Just as he shot past the goalposts with millimeters, a voice spoke, "Trying to kill yourself, Potter? I would've thought that you got enough of that during Voldemort's hunt for you."

Harry turned his head, and didn't notice the commentator's podium that he was speeding towards.

"Potter!" Tracey Davis cried, trying to prevent the crash, but with a huge KABOOM, Harry smashed into the podium. The podium itself shattered into thousands of pieces.

"Oh shit!" Tracey muttered to herself as she sprinted towards the wreckage. When she got there she levitated most of the bits and pieces of the podium away, and found a very unconscious Boy-Who-Lived still gripping the broom.

Naturally, Tracey got quite a few questions from Professor McGonagall when she came to inspect the cause of the wreckage and the loud CRASH that had been heard through the school.

Together, they brought Harry to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey shook her head when she saw her patient.

"How many times does that boy have to injure himself on brooms?"

McGonagall smiled, which shocked Tracey, as the normally stern Headmistress normally never smiled. Just then, the Hospital Wing doors opened, and Neville entered with Daphne. Tracey raised her eyebrows at Daphne's companion. When Daphne saw the scene in front of her, she too looked rather surprised.

"What did you do to him, Trace?"

"I uhh- I distracted him."

Daphne raised her eyebrows. "Distracted him?"

Tracey nodded. "He was doing all sorts of crazy things on his broom on the Pitch, and I spoke and distracted him, which caused him to fly straight into the announcer's podium."

Just then, Harry groaned and opened his eyes. He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table, put them on, and took in his surroundings.

"What's going on?"

"You flew into the announcer's podium going at full speed on your Firebolt." Tracey said apologetically.

"Really? I don't remember anything after turning around to see who was talking."

"That was me, in case you didn't realize." Tracey said.

"Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey said, pushing aside Neville as she strode towards the bed.

Harry groaned again, but good-naturedly this time.

"What horrible treatment am I getting this time?"

Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"None, but if you keep up that tone, maybe I'll have to prescribe one for you AFTER I hex you."

Madam Pomfrey pulled out her wand, and waved it over Harry's head, muttering spells under her breath.

"You seem to be alright, no worse for wear, although I don't understand how haven't killed yourself playing that barbaric sport."

"So I'm free to go?" Harry asked.

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

Harry jumped out of the bed, and pulled on his robes.

He grabbed his bag, and headed out the door, with Daphne, Tracey, and Neville following close behind. As the doors shut behind him, Professor McGonagall shook her head.

"That boy will continue injuring himself in the future. I wonder how he has lived past his fourth year."

Madam Pomfrey smirked. "All thanks to me. I should get more credit for saving the Boy-Who-Lived multiple times."

Professor McGonagall looked at her, "You wouldn't want the attention anyways."

Madam Pomfrey didn't say anything, and retreated into her office. Professor McGonagall sighed. She needed to fix the announcer's podium yet again. Still, she was happy that Harry was at least talking civilly to his former enemies in Slytherin. It would make rebuilding the Wizarding World much easier if their symbol of hope and victory was seen socializing with pure-bloods, and former supporters of Voldemort.

**oOo**

Harry turned to the two Slytherins after they had exited the Hospital Wing, and attempted to start a conversation. Despite his experience with girls, he was still quite awkward around them, especially the girls that he had a crush on. This made talking to Daphne rather difficult, so he talked to Tracey instead.

"Tracey Davis, correct?"

Tracey nodded, rather excited that the boy starring in her dreams already knew her name.

"Why exactly were you at the Quidditch Pitch calling me?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"You've never talked to me in the past eight years. Why now?"

"Gods, Potter, are you that dense? The war's over! Nobody is ruling the roost in Magical Britain, nobody is forcing you to appear a certain way or behave a certain way."

Harry winced. He hadn't meant his statement to come out as a harsh question. He was curious, since Tracey and Daphne, and one other Slytherin girl whom he had never spoken to, and thus never knew her name, were the only ones who had never spoken a word to him, whether it was condescending, arrogant, and hurtful, or supportive.

Daphne chose this moment to interrupt.

"Potter."

Harry turned around.

"I suppose that this conversation has to start somewhere, and I certainly don't want to start it off hostile." She said pointedly, looking at Tracey.

"We've all heard the stories about Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and his brave deeds and stupid decisions over the years."

"Hey! Harry doesn't make stupid decisions!" Neville didn't know what prompted him to speak, but he didn't feel like Harry made any dumb decisions. His face burned, however, as Daphne looked at him with eyebrows raised.

"Thanks Neville." Harry said, before turning to Daphne.

"What do you want to know about me?"

"I want to separate fact from fiction. For example, did you really find the actual Philsopher's Stone in First Year? Or killed the basilisk in the fabled Chamber of Secrets in Second Year? What about the Dementors and the corporeal Patronus in our Third Year?"

Harry sighed. Everybody he had met after the war had inquired about these subjects, and he had told the same story over and over again so much that he really didn't feel like talking about it again, but he knew that if he was to perhaps become Daphne's friend in the future, he would need to tell her what had happened. He didn't want to, since Ron had already had a jealousy fit after he had talked about the story for the umpteenth time to a couple of well-meaning Ministry officials, and Ron had afterwards accused him of trying to set up his Ministry career by using his fame. He had apologized afterwards, as usual after their fights, but Harry was careful not to speak of those events too much, and to credit Ron more in his stories. He knew in his heart that telling Daphne would not sit well with Ron, since Ron was very paranoid about people "stealing his girl", and he also knew that Harry had a crush on Daphne. Harry began to recount First Year and the Philospher's Stone, when suddenly, behind a suit of armor, a jet of purple light flew towards Daphne. Daphne was too stunned to react, but Harry drew his wand and deflected it, before sending back a curse that he had learned from Professor Flitwick, the spell that caused inanimate objects to become alive. Screams were heard from behind the suit of armor as it came to life, crushing whoever was behind it.

Tracey said, "Is that… Michael Corner?"

Daphne, coming out of her shock at being hexed with what looked like a cutting curse at Hogwarts, drew her wand and sent the suit of armor flying. Sure enough, Michael Corner was sagging against the wall, bruises everywhere, and a broken bone sticking out of his arm.

Daphne pointed her wand at him, and shouted, "Incarcerous!"

Ropes bound the boy together, and tightened. Michael yelled in pain as the ropes tightened, and his bruises and broken bones hurt more than before.

Harry knocked the guy out with a Stunning Spell and took his wand, before sending a Patronus to call McGonagall. Meanwhile, Daphne was looking at him with grudging respect and gratitude.

"Thank you Potter, you saved me a lot of pain and a couple of days under the care of Madam Pomfrey."

Harry was rather shocked that Michael Corner would attack Daphne. Sure, Michael acted sometimes as if he was the biggest playboy at Hogwarts, boasting about how he had "bagged" two of the hottest girls at Hogwarts, Cho and Ginny. However, Daphne had always turned him down, and he eventually stayed away from her after a particularly painful experience trying to get her under the mistletoe during Slughorn's Christmas Party of their Sixth Year. Professor McGonagall arrived, and after hearing the four of them recount what happened, levitated the bound Michael Corner up the stairs towards her office. Harry also handed over Michael's wand, which was proof of what he had done.

Daphne asked, "Is there anywhere private where we could hold this conversation? I certainly don't enjoy being attacked at Hogwarts, and I would prefer that nobody hear our conversation."

Harry looked at Neville. Both boys were thinking the same thing.

"Sure." Harry said, as he turned and stepped onto a moving staircase, heading towards the Seventh floor.

**oOo**

**Stupid me. Nobody left of Malfoy's clique that I could really turn into the next anti-Harry or anti-Daphne at school other than Zabini, and he is currently unable to do anything such as hiding behind armor and casting nasty hexes. If there are any Michael Corner fans out there…uhhh Sorry.**

** Anyways, you all probably figured out where the conversation will take place. Sorry there wasn't much talking between Harry and Daphne in this chapter. Next chapter will feature most of the talking.**

** To my beta(s): I am currently unable to send this to you in any way. I'll send copies at the end of the month, or you can just copy and paste from the story itself. Of course, I will NOT hold it against you if you guys don't edit this. I'm sorry about the inconvenience!**

** As always, a review always helps! The goal of 100 review is still out there!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 13**

** Don't ask me about when the next chapter will be…I really don't know.**

** No anonymous review replies.**

** To the person who left 3 reviews saying "Excellent Story.": Thanks, but when I say that I want to get to 100 reviews, I don't mean just spam "Excellent story." Sure, it's nice to know that this story is getting support from readers, but once is enough from one person. No offense.**

** Credit to Anda Faith for providing a tiny bit of inspiration for this story from her own Harry/Daphne story "Duality". You probably won't notice it, but if you read the details from both our stories, you will figure out what part of the story I quasi-copied. Credit is also given to James Spookie, GroveWolf, and wisebeyondyears for some help with my writing. Thanks guys.**

** QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:**

** Can the Room of Requirement change into an outdoor landscape?**

** IMPORANT INFORMATION:**

** Sorry about the interruption in the last chapter in between the Harry and Daphne talk, but there hasn't been violence at all in this story. I mean real violence, not the petty jinxes and curses that students throw at each other because of House rivalries, Quidditch rivalries (which, incidentally, are the same as House rivalries basically), and the ever-present, although noticeably diminished, racism. Here is the continuation of the "talk."**

** Don't read this if easily offended by language.**

** Ron is not shown in the best light in this chapter. Sorry.**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and/or any associated content. All rights go to J.K. Rowling and That Publishing Company That She Uses.**

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass was extremely confused. She had thought that Potter would be taking her to some unknown secret passageway that he had discovered, since Potter seemed to have inherited the knowledge that the Weasley Twins had possessed about the school's inner workings during their tenure as Heads of Mischief. Instead, he was stopping right next to a painting on the wall of an extremely stupid wizard attempting to teach trolls ballet. While it might have been funny to Potter, Daphne certainly didn't find it amusing, and was wondering what happened to Potter's brain when he began to pace back and forth, his eyes closed, and whispering something under his breath.

Daphne was on the verge of yelling at Potter about what the hell he was doing, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a door popped into existence on what had previously been a blank stretch of wall. Tracey gasped, while Neville merely smirked. He had obviously known about this room before.

Harry entered, and after the other three had passed by him, shut the door and turned around.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement." He said with the air of a model unveiling a new product for the company.

Tracey's mouth fell open when she saw their surroundings. It looked like a combination of both the Gryffindor and Slytherin Common Rooms. Tracey only knew what the Gryffindor Common Room was like because of a Polyjuice experiment in Fifth Year to try and determine just how infatuated Potter had been with Chang. She and Daphne had made a bet on how long it would take for Potter and Chang to call it off. After the first fight between the couple, Tracey wanted to scout out Harry, and had "borrowed" some Polyjuice Potion ingredients from Malfoy, who kept a stash of all different rare items in his trunk from fourth year onwards. Tracey wondered how Potter had figured out what the Slytherin Common Room looked like, and then shrugged it off. Potter, from what she had heard, had probably explored the whole school during his time at Hogwarts, and during the final battle, where many survivors had reported seeing Potter only battling for a very short time towards the end.

Meanwhile, Harry was telling Daphne about the Room and its purposes, including how he found the room. Daphne was rather surprised about Harry's ability and willingness to tell the truth, even though she had been quite hostile towards him over the past couple of weeks.

Tracey was rather envious of the attention that Harry was showing towards Daphne, and, with an effort, stopped staring at Harry and started paying attention to what he was saying.

"-and Malfoy found it because of Edgecombe. That's why many Gryffindors, a couple 'Puffs, and a few 'Claws were gone towards the end of the year, because Umbridge put us in detention and we literally mutilated our own hands with some cursed blood quills."

Tracey frowned. "Blood Quills are banned by the Ministry. How come Umbridge was allowed to use them on students?"

Harry looked at her incredulously.

"Umbridge was a Ministry official acting under _Fudge_'s orders. She could do anything short of killing us, and it would have been legal. Hell, she even used the Cruciatus Curse on me when I didn't give her information about Dumbledore! And even that is overlooking all the things she could have and might have done while she was working with the Death Eaters at the Ministry during the short time that Voldemort held power there."

"Didn't she get tried for war crimes?" Daphne asked, remembering a bit of news that her father had mentioned once.

"Yes, but she was never convicted. Apparently, she escaped punishment by blaming the Imperius Curse, just like a bunch of Death Eaters during the First War between Voldemort and the Light"

Harry sat down in an armchair and motioned for the others to sit as well.

"So, Greengrass, what is it that you want to know about me?"

Neville interjected, "I'd also like to get to know you too, Green—err… Daphne."

Daphne noticed how Neville had decided to use her first name, instead of her surname, and wondered what his agenda.. Almost all the people she had ever talked to at Hogwarts, including Slytherins had called her Greengrass, with a few exceptions.

"As long as you answer your questions truthfully, I will answer questions about myself truthfully as well. I have quite a lot of unanswered questions about you, Potter. The first and foremost question is about your relatives. I know for a fact that your parents, while not being the richest family in Magical Britain, were wealthy, and must have left you a significant amount of gold in your vault. If that's true, then why do you wear the same clothes each year, and only change them when you outgrow your robes?"

Harry spent the next two hours patiently answering every question that Daphne and Tracey had, including questions about each of his adventures during his seven years at school. Harry didn't understand it, but he didn't feel the same irritation that he felt when retelling his actions to reporters or Ministry officials that kept badgering him with endless questions. Perhaps it was because he hadn't spoken about his past in a long time, and didn't mind recounting it, especially as he had gotten used to retelling his past to curious students, greedy journalists, and many others. Perhaps it was because it was Daphne Greengrass, whose appearance in his dreams and thoughts had increased exponentially since the first time Harry had seen her, outside of Gringotts. Hell, it had been less than three weeks.

For her part, Daphne replied to the questions that Harry had. Harry learned a quite a bit about Pureblood customs, and what life was like as a pureblood during Voldemort's reign. Eventually, they got around to discussing Ron, and the contract.

Neville explained to Harry all he knew about marriage contract, and then asked Daphne if he could see the contract. Daphne replied that the only copy of the contract that she owned was currently in the safe in her father's study, before turning to Harry to question him about Ron.

Although a large part of Harry was screaming, "Smear Ron as much as you can so that Daphne'll hate him!" Harry couldn't just ditch almost nine years of friendship just for a crush that would never happen, no matter how much he made Daphne hate Ron.

While Harry explained Ronald Weasley, his virtues, his problems, and most importantly, his sense of insecurity and jealousy, Neville noticed Tracey staring at Harry, and inwardly groaned.

Tracey was very beautiful, in Neville's opinion. He, in fact, liked both Tracey and Daphne, but Daphne had that feeling of being forbidden, because of her Ice Queen mask, and, like all boys, Neville dreamed of being the one to "conquer" the Ice Queen and become the first boy she had ever looked at for longer than five seconds when she was not holding a conversation with said boy.

The fact that both beautiful, out-of-his-league, utterly unattainable girls were more interested in Harry, was just the most recent blows to Neville's self-confidence. Suddenly, they heard the door opening. Harry turned towards the door frowning, then remembered that he had forgotten to lock the door, which meant that anybody who used the Room of Requirement during the time while they were inside would be automatically transported into their room.

"Shit, I forgot to lock it." He muttered under his breath.

Daphne rolled her eyes, and stood up, hand inside her robes, grasping her wand.

In came Ron Weasley, pulling a bubbly and giggly Lavender Brown by the hand. As soon as Ron took in his surroundings, and saw who was in the room, he paled.

"Shit… What are you guys doing here? Harry, why are you and Neville talking to Daphne?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Weasel." Daphne said coldly, rapidly appraising and analyzing the situation, and coming to the same solution that Harry, Neville, and Tracey were coming to.

Neville muttered, "I thought Ron had learned from his mistake in Sixth Year after that flock of birds, but I guess some people just never learn from their mistakes."

Tracey nodded subtly. She had never understood why the two had gotten together. Ron, she could see, always going for the hottest girl he could find. On the other hand, Lavender had always shown in interest in the more popular boys, even making a move on Cedric Diggory in Fourth Year after he became champion, and never paid any attention to Ron until Sixth Year. Tracey stored these thoughts in the back of her mind, as she could see that Daphne was very close to exploding, as the implications of why Ron and Lavender wanted a private room became clear. Tracey took Daphne by the arm to stop her from exploding, and quickly led her out of the room. Daphne resisted for a moment, before shooting a venomous glare at Ron that made him quail.

Harry and Neville remained, merely looking at Ron with utter disgust and disappointment. Ron turned, and muttered something to Lavender. She pouted, but turned, and left the room, although not without taking out her wand, in case the Slytherin girls were waiting to attack her once outside.

Ron turned back, and both sides could see that the other was mad.

**oOo**

Every head looked up when the wall slid open to reveal a livid Daphne Greengrass and a rather worried Tracey Davis entered the Common Room. They made a beeline for the girl's dormitories. Some of the older Slytherins whispered among themselves. Sure, they had seen Daphne in their rage, and it was terrifying, especially when it was directed at them, but they all noticed that it was happening more and more often this year.

As soon as they entered, Tracey placed Silencing Spells on the walls of the room, knowing that they would probably make a lot of noise, considering how angry Daphne was. As she turned around, she was surprised to see Daphne composed, and calculating.

She approached slowly, "Daphne, are you alright?"

Daphne smiled at her, which nearly gave Tracey a stroke. "I'm glad that Brown got with him again."

Tracey's mouth dropped open. "Why?"

"There was a fidelity clause in the contract."

"Wait, you mean…you two can't date other people?"

"No, it just stated that neither party can engage in sexual activities. I think that was added by the Weasleys actually."

"So… you're praying that Weasley will be stupid enough to go the distance with Brown, and release you from the contract."

"Yes, and it's probably, considering Weasley's personality."

"If that's true, then why were you so angry?"

"I needed to at least show a degree of anger to deflect any suspicion from Weasley, Potter, and Longbottom."

Tracey shook her head. "You might have just scared Weasley to the point where he won't dare do anything with Brown."

"Maybe, but considering Weasley's memory, he'll fuck up again in the future. Look at his track record. He's screwed up so many times with Granger."

Tracey nodded slowly.

Just then, the door burst open. Astoria Greengrass entered the room, expecting some blown up furniture.

"What happened to you Daph?"

Daphne gritted her teeth. She hated that nickname. People couldn't be slightly less lazy and say her full name. It really wasn't that hard.

"First, don't call me that, and second, Weasley looks like he's going for Brown again."

Astoria rolled her eyes at the first comment. Then the second one sunk in.

"He's not following the contract? How thick can he be?"

"Very. I bet he hasn't even looked at the contract. Thank god Father had the foresight to leave out that part at the conversation in Diagon Alley."

Astoria nodded. "So, do I wait and hope that Weasley won't be my future brother-in-law?"

"Well, other than the fact that your sister just scared the hell out of Weasley, the plan is on the right track."

Astoria shrugged off that comment.

"He'll forget eventually."

"Exactly my point." Daphne cut in. "Anyways, what time is it?"

"It's actually almost dinnertime. We spent so much time with Potter and Longbottom."

Daphne frowned at the thought of the two boys. She couldn't figure them out. Usually, she'd be able to figure out what a boy wanted within the first two minutes of the conversation, especially if the boy was introducing himself, and telling about his life. The shy ones would usually talk in almost a whisper, and try to leave out as much as possible to keep the introduction short. The obnoxious ones would exaggerate all their deeds, and try to impress her enough to make her show interest in them. The thick ones were obvious. However, nobody, in Daphne's whole life, had ever been blunt and honest as Potter, and gave a short, but detailed and succinct summary of their life. Considering how much action the boy had seen, Daphne was surprised that Potter didn't at least try to glorify one of his deeds, but he seemed extremely modest, attributing much to luck and the deeds of those braver and smarter than himself. Longbottom also puzzled her. He had been beaten down and bullied by Slytherin House for the better part of four years. After Fifth Year, and the rumoured DA, he had gained a lot of self-confidence and became a leader of sorts at Hogwarts under Potter's banner in the Seventh Year under Voldemort's rule. However, he was still painfully shy, at least around her, and the fact that he admitted to his crush on her made her feel rather uncomfortable speaking to him. His admittance was so different from others. Longbottom had just put it out there, then did nothing to try to woo her. He kind of backed off afterwards. That, whether intended or not, made Longbottom stick in her head, ever since that day. She was always on edge, wondering what he wanted, and what he would do in the future. No other boy had made her this interested, although Potter was holding a close second place right now. Daphne shook her head, and thought 'What is happening to me? I've been through seven years of school, one of which was under a evil Dark Lord, and nothing has made me feel this uncomfortable. Suddenly, a marriage contract and two Gryffindor boys come along and throw her world into whole confusion.'

"Fuck marriage contracts."

**oOo**

** Review!**


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